Indonesia Must Learn from the Philippines
Note: This article is the writer’s personal opinion and does not reflect the views of the CNBCIndonesia.com editorial team.
Every time I visit the Philippines for work, the feeling is always the same: a strong sense of familiarity, as if I were returning home to Indonesia. The similar appearance of its people, cultural ties, roadside food stalls, minimarkets, and the many shared words between Tagalog and Indonesian create a powerful emotional bond.
Yet behind these similarities, there is one thing that leaves me astonished — and stung — as a development practitioner in the agribusiness field: the effectiveness of the Farm-to-Market Road (FMR) programme.
The Philippines, like Indonesia, is a large agrarian country. However, it has a highly strategic infrastructure policy supporting the agricultural sector. Since 1997, the Philippine government has designed and enacted the FMR programme as part of its long-term national development plan.
Formal construction began in the early 2000s, and by 2026 it has succeeded in building around 70,000 kilometres of roads as smooth as toll roads, out of a total target of 130,000 kilometres.
The remaining 60,000 kilometres of the target are indeed not yet toll-road standard — still unpaved or unconcreted — but relatively smooth without potholes, and wide enough for two cars to pass each other. This is because the roads have been opened by local governments working in synergy with the central government for the common national interest. Villagers also understand that the land acquisition is for their own benefit, so land disputes are rare.
To me, this is not merely a matter of statistics. On several working visits to villages up to four hours’ travel from the Philippine capital, Manila — even in remote villages beyond the reach of mobile phone signals — the roads are smooth, durable, and wide enough for two large vans to pass each other without obstruction. This is genuine, planned development transformation: slow but sure.
Why does this matter so much? Because the main problem in our agricultural sector — in both Indonesia and the Philippines — is often not production but distribution. High food loss, or post-harvest wastage, frequently occurs because of poor road access from farmland to market.
With smooth roads, harvests reach the market faster and in fresher condition. Preserved product quality raises selling prices, which ultimately boosts farmers’ incomes and the regional economy as a whole.
Moreover, the FMR programme in the Philippines is the result of synergistic collaboration led by the Department of Agriculture and executed by the Department of Public Works and local governments across the country. Its multiplier effects are tangible: villagers become more productive, access to schools improves, and population mobility increases. It is a holistic investment in rural progress.
The reality in the Philippines is a harsh slap in the face for us in Indonesia. In economic terms, the Philippines’ GDP and GDP per capita remain below Indonesia’s. Yet why are they able to build rural infrastructure of toll-road quality that lasts for years, while we often see newly paved roads deteriorating within weeks?
We often hide behind excuses of climate, heavy rainfall and the like. But the Philippines faces even more extreme conditions — it is frequently battered by typhoons that often devastate settlements — yet their road construction has proven able to withstand them.
If it is not the climate, does the problem lie in integrity? Is it because in Indonesia, infrastructure development is often trapped in mark-up practices that downgrade quality from toll-road standards to second- or third-rate?
We must answer this question honestly. How long will we continue to allow our vital infrastructure to be sacrificed to inefficient and corrupt practices? If we do not promptly learn from our close neighbour and fix the governance of infrastructure development, we must be prepared to be left behind. It is time we made quality, durability, and economic impact our primary benchmarks, rather than merely ticking off “projects” for their own sake.