Filipinos overwhelmingly rely on walking for transportation, yet face perilous conditions due to inadequate and often hostile infrastructure, advocates said during a roundtable discussion.
The #FIXPH Roundtable, organized by the Move As One (MAO) Coalition, brought together urban planners, transport officials and pedestrian advocates to address the country’s “broken pedestrian infrastructure.”
Robert Siy, co-convenor of the Move As One Coalition, highlighted the stark disparity: while Filipinos spend 77.5 percent of their travel time walking, only 5 percent of roads are considered safe for pedestrians.
He noted that 94 percent of Filipinos walk or use public transportation, compared to just 6 percent who own cars, yet roads are primarily designed for vehicles.
“At some point in our daily journeys on the road, we all need to walk. But we live in an unwalkable country, where there is a lack of safe infrastructure that supports and encourages walking,” Siy said. “Poor walkability in our cities makes all of us poor.”
A video presented at the event depicted ordinary Filipinos navigating broken sidewalks, crossing highways without pedestrian lanes, and walking alongside moving vehicles to reach their destinations. One participant described walking in the Philippines as a “deathtrap.”
Dinna Dayao, communication consultant for MAO, pointed out that pedestrian deaths account for 22.59 percent of all road fatalities. She criticized infrastructure like footbridges, often intended for safety, as inaccessible, inconvenient and dangerous, citing injuries from climbing steep stairs or jumping over barriers.
“Lack of well-designed infrastructure equals limb fractures,” Dayao said. “We don’t have support for Filipinos who want to walk.”
Accessibility advocate Maureen Ava Mata, representing the PWD community, described commuting as a daily physical and emotional struggle. “How am I going to reach the bus station in the first place?” she asked, emphasizing the desire of PWDs and senior citizens for independent mobility.