A stretch of the country’s longest highway is being rebuilt in Samar, and the work could nearly halve the drive between two of the region’s key cities.
President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. visited the Pinabacdao site on Friday to look over repairs underway on the section of the Pan-Philippine Highway, the road more commonly called the Maharlika Highway. Officials are aiming to wrap up that portion by August 2026.
According to the Presidential Communications Office, the finished work should bring the Tacloban City–Catbalogan City trip down to one hour and 45 minutes, compared with the three hours drivers currently spend on the route.
The PCO said Marcos used the visit to press for solid construction standards, framing the upgrade as a way to move people and goods more easily and to widen economic prospects across the area. Lower transport costs are among the anticipated gains, alongside smoother logistics for farmers and small business owners. Residents, too, stand to reach schools, clinics, and other basic services more reliably — a point officials stressed for periods when disasters strike.
The push follows earlier findings from the Department of Public Works and Highways, which flagged the Samar segment as pocked with potholes and caked in mud. Those conditions, the agency noted, raised the odds of crashes and choked traffic along the corridor.
Beyond the current patch-up, a far larger effort is on the horizon. The DPWH has set its sights on launching a long-term rehabilitation of the Maharlika Highway sometime in June or July, a program it estimates will cost P16 billion.
Spanning 3,517 kilometers, the Maharlika Highway runs north to south as the Philippines’ main artery, stitching together Luzon, Samar, Leyte, and Mindanao through a mix of roads, expressways, bridges, and ferry crossings. The route was first floated in 1965 and built out over the following decade.
