Cabinet revamp a ‘golden opportunity' for inclusive road infra — mobility advocates
The Move As One Coalition, an advocacy group for inclusive mobility, on Thursday welcomed President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.'s directive to 'reset' key leadership posts in his administration.
In a statement, Move As One said the President's move 'presents a golden opportunity for the government to shift away from services and infrastructure that favors the needs of the 6% of Filipinos who own private vehicles to the 94% who walk, ride public transportation, and pedal bicycles.'
Marcos earlier announced his sweeping call for his Cabinet secretaries to submit their courtesy resignations after his pronouncement that the results of Eleksyon 2025 showed that the people are "tired of politics and they are disappointed with the government."
With this, the group said that a whole-of-government approach is needed to fulfill the significant transportation policy in the Philippine Development Plan (PDP) 2023-2028, that 'pedestrians and cyclists will be accorded highest priority in the hierarchy of road users.'
The group also expressed support for Transportation Secretary Vince Dizon amid the President's call for his alter egos to submit courtesy resignations.
'I and colleagues from the Move As One Coalition have been supportive of Sec. Dizon and his team at the DOTr because of their prioritization of public transportation and vulnerable road users who are in the vast majority. There needs to be a conscious reorientation and transformation of services and infrastructure to favor these groups in the population so that we can have more livable communities and more sustainable, inclusive and efficient mobility everywhere, including for owners of motor vehicles,' said Robert Siy Jr., a co-convenor of Move As One.
'This means providing safe and attractive travel options apart from using a private motor vehicle,' added Siy.
He said that the country needs its road and bridge infrastructure agency, the Department of Public Works and Highways, to also prioritize the travel of those without motor vehicles and to reflect this in the design and operations of all roads and bridges that they build as 'Filipinos are driven to car-dependency and motorcycle-dependency, which leaves all of us with ever-increasing heat, pollution and traffic on all our urban roads.' —Ted Cordero/RF, GMA Integrated News
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