Former Secretary of National Defense and senatorial candidate Gilbert (GIBO) Teodoro realizes the need to empower local government units (LGUs) in order to develop more road networks, especially farm-to-market and tourism road infrastructures in rural areas.

Gibo Teodoro, former Tarlac congressman, said close coordination between the national government and LGUs will help in identifying which road infrastructures are critical and will create a significant impact, particularly for sectors of agriculture and tourism.

Gibo Teodoro, the 1989 bar top notcher, cited a study of the World Bank, saying that 85 percent of the country’s road network are local roads. However, only less than 20 percent of local roads are paved compared to 96 percent of national roads.

“LGUs have an inventory of the country’s road network. However, LGUs also have limited financial and technical resources for road planning and maintenance,” Gibo Teodoro said. “We need to build the capacity of our LGUs through training programs and by strengthening partnerships with the private sector, including multilateral organizations.”

The senatorial aspirant added that aside from building more roads, the condition of local roads should be rehabilitated and maintained to enable smooth movement of people and farmers’ produce.