Virata’s infrastructure dreams

A formidable pillar of the Philippine economy has passed,” I wrote in my chat groups as news circulated last Friday that Cesar Enrique Aguinaldo Virata, the only Prime Minister of the Philippines, had died at the age of 95. While his death wasn’t really a shock given his advanced age and challenged physical health, it was surprising and saddening news to me just the same, especially because just over three weeks ago, we were seated beside each other in a meeting he actively participated in.

For two decades, Virata had chaired the Advisory Committee (AdCom) of the Japan International Cooperation Agency (Jica) in the Philippines since its 2006 inception. It was in that capacity that I had the privilege of direct and regular association with him over the last 15 years since I became part of that body in 2011. Late last year, he asked to step down from that role and nominated me to take his place, but pledged to continue joining the AdCom meetings. That was what brought us seated side by side again three weeks ago, and none of us in that meeting expected that it would be his last.

It was 34 years ago that I first met him face to face, at my office soon after then President Fidel V. Ramos placed me at the helm of the National Economic and Development Authority (Neda). Having long been a towering figure in the Philippine economic landscape, most prominently as President Ferdinand Marcos Sr.’s concurrent Finance Minister and Prime Minister, he was an eminent and honored guest to receive in my own office then. He came for one reason: he argued for the formulation of a comprehensive, coherent, and integrated long-term strategic infrastructure development plan—a binding master plan and blueprint that would hopefully bind the present and future presidents.

He told me how unhappy he was about how the government’s infrastructure projects did not seem to follow any coherent plan or framework, especially with politicians coming up with arbitrary projects that mostly favor their congressional districts (yes, it was a problem then as it remains a problem now, only worse!). The good PM had been part of a government known to have invested massively in infrastructure of various kinds (including frivolous pet projects of a First Lady known then to have an “edifice complex”—never mind how all of it was unsustainably financed; that’s another story in itself). To his credit, Virata was known to have strongly resisted many of the former first lady’s ill-advised pursuits, mostly unsuccessfully. He was also critical of the coconut and sugar monopolies held by Marcos cronies. Because he kept his principles intact even as the dictator’s chief economic technocrat, he managed to maintain the esteem and respect of the business community and informed members of the general public.

I agreed with him on infrastructure planning, of course. Our work in public investment programming at Neda then was geared in the direction that Virata espoused, of ensuring coherence, integration, strategic thinking and continuity to be embodied in the country’s infrastructure program nationwide. The Infrastructure Committee of the Neda Board, chaired by Neda and composed of the government’s various infrastructure agencies, planned for what we called a “seamless multi-modal transport infrastructure system.” We described our aspiration simply: we wanted a system wherein anyone can readily and smoothly move across land, air and water modes of transport, so an arriving passenger at the airport (or maritime port) can choose rail or alternative forms of road transport (bus, taxi, jeepney, or private car) to get to his/her next destination, including possibly to another air, land, or water terminal for further onward travel. Since back then, it had never made sense that the Manila Light Rail Transit line’s train depot was right beside the Manila Domestic Airport, yet the trains never connected to the air terminal. The painful reason, privately admitted to us by past transport officials, was that the taxi industry lobbied against such a link.

That elusive air-rail link is finally going to happen (but don’t hold your breath just yet—it’s not until 2031) through the Metro Manila Subway project, thanks to Jica—and Virata himself presided over AdCom meetings where we lengthily discussed it. In countless such meetings over the years, he was in his element in discussions on strategic infrastructure, which the Japanese government, through Jica, has prominently and consistently helped our country finance. We in the committee reveled in his stories of bygone years when he presided over an infrastructure program that put us ahead of our neighbors. Too bad he could not live to see the day that air-rail link finally happens; as it stands, he would have needed to live to 100 to see it in actual service.

God bless Prime Minister Virata. We pray that our infrastructure dreams do not die with him.

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