Cynthia A. Villar

“Build, Build, Build” will go down in Philippine history as one of the greatest legacies of any administration. We have practically leapfrogged to the Golden Age of Infrastructure, accomplishing in one presidential term the infrastructure gap that has hounded several administrations past.

In Night Owl, Anna Mae Lamentillo narrates the painstaking process to transition from blueprints to actual roads and bridges. This includes the Department of Public Works and Highways’ efforts to institute reforms, address decades-old challenges, and utilize technology for efficient and effective progress monitoring.

She dissects every facet of the program—from the kilometers of roads, number of bridges, flood control projects, classrooms, evacuation centers accomplished in each region, to the number of jobs created and its impact on growth, including the country’s progress in becoming a trillion-dollar economy.

While acknowledging the vision and the strong political will of President Rodrigo Duterte and the passion and commitment of his “Build, Build, Build” team to accomplish the task at hand, Night Owl is also generous in recognizing the 6.5 million Filipino workers whose blood, sweat, and tears have actually made this program a monumental achievement not only of the administration, but also of the Filipino nation.

Hats off to Ms. Lamentillo for diligently recording the statistics and stories behind these projects to dispel rumors and combat disinformation. She expertly weaves such information and her personal knowledge and experience as “Build, Build, Build” committee chair into a narrative that will inspire more leaders to be ambitious for our country and give nothing less than what the Filipino people deserves.