Reports that DPWH Secretary Vince Dizon is riding along the Maharlika Highway from Quezon to Bicol, then to Samar, and onward to Mindanao deserve public commendation. If true, he should be seeing the real and painful condition of the highway, especially its most neglected and abused segments. It is a welcome move, but only if it leads to decisive action rather than staged publicity.
The Samar portion of the Maharlika Highway has long been a national embarrassment. Motorists and commuters endure broken pavements, uneven surfaces, recurring potholes, and stretches that seem permanently under repair yet never improved. Travel that should take hours drags on endlessly, damaging vehicles, risking lives, and exhausting ordinary people who rely on this road for work, trade, and basic mobility. A firsthand ride through Samar should leave no room for excuses, sanitized reports, or technical justifications that downplay the daily suffering on the ground.
For decades, rehabilitation funds for this highway have been allocated and reallocated, yet the road remains largely in poor condition. The pattern is familiar: short repairs, substandard materials, quick resurfacing that collapses after a few months, followed by another budget request. This cycle has fueled persistent suspicions that public funds meant for lasting infrastructure have been siphoned off by corrupt figures protected by silence and routine. The Samar highway stands as a physical record of failed oversight and tolerated wrongdoing.
If the secretary truly travels this route, he should also see the deeper problem beyond cracked asphalt. He should recognize how poor road conditions strangle local economies, delay emergency response times, raise transport costs, and isolate communities already burdened by poverty and disasters. The Maharlika Highway is not a decorative project; it is a lifeline. When it is allowed to decay, the state effectively abandons the people who depend on it.
There needs to be a firm, transparent, and uncompromising action. Independent audits of past and ongoing projects, strict accountability for contractors and officials, public disclosure of project details, and the use of durable standards instead of cosmetic repairs must become non-negotiable. The cycle of corruption and neglect of the Maharlika Highway in Samar must be broken so it can finally serve its purpose as a road for progress rather than a monument to plunder.
