Financing Metro Manila's people-first future

Originally published in Manila Bulletin

Metro Manila’s decades-long focus on car-centric planning has left its streets inhospitable to pedestrians and cyclists. My research revealed that 71 percent of residents cite insufficient infrastructure as a key barrier to daily mobility, while 72 percent point to high costs and funding constraints—and 59 percent confess a strong preference for private vehicles over public or active transport . These attitudes underscore a deeper issue: without rethinking how projects are financed, the city will remain locked into widening roads rather than creating livable, walkable neighborhoods.

Financing remains a critical hurdle. Local government units’ heavy reliance on the Internal Revenue Allotment (IRA) constrains fiscal autonomy, and corruption risks—such as overpriced bike-lane contracts—erode public trust. To break this cycle, Manila needs a dedicated 15-Minute City Fund supported by national grants, public-private partnerships, carbon-credit revenues, and blockchain-based transparency tools that track spending in real time. Such a fund would ring-fence resources for pedestrian safety, protected bike lanes, and local transit hubs, ensuring that money does not default back into road-widening schemes.

Public-private partnerships can marshal private capital for people-centered mobility. Rather than paying contractors per lane-kilometer, the city could structure contracts around performance measures: operators of bike-share or e-trike networks would earn based on ridership and service reliability, while firms upgrading sidewalks or lighting would be compensated according to safety and accessibility outcomes. This shifts incentives away from simply pouring concrete and toward delivering a better urban experience.

Meanwhile, Manila can unlock new revenue by tapping carbon-credit markets. Emission reductions from electrifying jeepneys and tricycles, planting urban forests, and installing green infrastructure all generate tradable offsets. Channeling these climate-finance streams into the 15-Minute City Fund creates a virtuous cycle: as the city becomes greener and more resilient, it attracts more carbon-market investment to sustain further improvements.

None of this will happen without governance reforms to reallocate budgets. Granting cities greater own-source revenue tools—such as land-value capture—and requiring statutory “carve-outs” for active-mobility projects would give mayors and councils the financial freedom to invest in sidewalks and cycleways. Embedding participatory budgeting at the barangay level would ensure communities choose street-upgrade priorities, while a national Active Mobility Act could mandate that every major thoroughfare dedicate a minimum share of space and budget to walking and cycling.

Redirecting Manila’s transport budget from endless road-widening toward people-first infrastructure demands bold thinking. A transparent, multi-source City Fund, performance-driven PPPs, market-based carbon revenues, and firmer fiscal and legal frameworks can together finance a future where every destination lies within a short walk or ride—and every peso truly serves the needs of its residents.

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