Late President FM planned Manila-Bataan coastal road in 1973

Did you know that as early as the first half of the 1970s, then President Ferdinand E. Marcos Sr. (FM) ordered the construction of a coastal highway along the Manila Bay from the Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP) Complex at the Manila-Pasay City boundary all the way to the provinces of Bulacan, Pampanga and Bataan in Central Luzon?

The order was specified in his Letter of Instruction (LOI) No. 85 dated June 1, 1973 and included in Volume Two of the Consolidated Presidential Decree Nos. 108-227 Consequent to Proclamation No. 1081 which imposed martial law in the country on Sept. 21, 1972.

The consolidated decrees, together with FM's General Orders and other LOIs with implementing regulations, were published by Cacho Hermanos Inc. and exclusively distributed by National Book Store Inc. in December 1973.

In LOI No. 85, Marcos directed the then Secretary of Public Works, Transportation and Communications and the Commissioner of Public Highways "to implement immediately the construction of the Manila Bay Coastal Road Project."

"This project is of paramount importance to the national interest, as it will partly solve and meet the urgent transportation needs of the Manila Bay region, promote the dispersal of population and activities from the Metro Manila inner core and thus enhance the overall traffic condition in the area, as well as provide very much needed land access for the development of the coastal areas, thus promoting economic growth within the region," Marcos said.

It was in the same LOI that FM ordered the construction of the present Manila-Cavite Coastal Road from the CCP area along Roxas Blvd. to Parañaque, Las Piñas and Bacoor as one of the priority projects of his administration.

As can be seen at present, the construction of the Manila-Cavite Coastal Road by segment was given priority. It was completed and opened in 1983 and eased greatly the perennial traffic congestion along Quirino Ave. in Parañaque and Las Piñas being experienced then daily by motorists and other travelers bound for Cavite and Batangas in Southern Luzon and vice versa.

That coastal road has since been upgraded and is now called the Manila-Cavite Expressway or Cavitex, one of the numerous toll roads now existing in Luzon.

On the other hand, there was no indication that the proposed Manila-Bulacan-Pampanga-Bataan coastal road from the CCP area was undertaken since its conception by FM 50 years ago.

Instead, two new boulevards were constructed by the government, through the DPWH and the Philippine Reclamation Authority (PRA), on the reclaimed land along Roxas Blvd., particularly in the vicinity of the SM Mall of Asia, Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) building (which also hosts the present Philippine Senate), Cultural Center of the Philippines, Philippine International Convention Center, and Folk Arts Theater buildings, among others.

The two thoroughfares now situated in the reclaimed area are the Macapagal Blvd., named after former President Diosdado P. Macapagal of Pampanga, and Diokno Blvd. in memory of former Senator Jose W. Diokno of Batangas.

If the Manila-Bataan coastal road project had been realized, it would have begun from the CCP Complex and would extend northward to the North Harbor area in Manila, the bay cities of Caloocan, Navotas and Malabon and all the coastal towns of Bulacan, Pampanga and Bataan.

In its place, the national government, through the DPWH, is now pushing for the construction of a 32-kilometer, four-lane Cavite--Bataan Bridge that would link the two provinces across the Manila Bay bounded by Metro Manila and Cavite on the east, Bulacan and Pampanga on the north, and Bataan on the northwest

On its website, the DPWH said President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. and Secretary Manuel M. Bonoan led last March 31 the ceremonial switching of the button signaling the start of the geotechnical investigation in evaluating underground conditions – the last of missing pieces to complete the foundation and detailed engineering design of the project.

According to former DPWH Secretary and now Senator Mark Villar, the feasibility study for the Bataan-Cavite Interlink Bridge Project was started during the administration of former President Rodrigo R. Duterte in March 2018, funded under the Asian Development Bank's Infrastructure Preparation and Innovation Facility Loan.