A P450-million funding allocation secured by a Samar lawmaker was set to provide badly needed rehabilitation to deteriorating sections of the province’s national highway, including stretches described by motorists as “hellish roads.”
The funding was secured in 2022 by then Samar 2nd District Representative Sharee Ann Tan for repairs to the provincial stretch of the Daang Maharlika Highway, after years of complaints over potholes, damaged pavement and slow-moving traffic.
According to a report by Rappler, Tan’s office said President Rodrigo Duterte approved the funding following a December 2021 visit to Samar by then Public Works and Highways Secretary Roger Mercado.
Tan subsequently met with the newly installed district engineer to discuss priority sections of the highway.
The road problems had become severe enough to trigger widespread public criticism.
In some portions, motorists reportedly had to reduce their speed to as low as 20 to 30 kilometers per hour because of deep potholes and damaged pavement, particularly along the Catbalogan-Sta. Rita corridor.
The DPWH had attributed much of the deterioration to continuous rains and declared affected portions as beyond routine maintenance.
The agency also pointed to inadequate maintenance funding, noting that its 2021 allocation had been reduced by P21 million from the previous year's release.
But the P450-million allocation was not the end of Samar’s road woes.
Four years later, deteriorating sections of the province’s road network remain a major infrastructure concern.
During a February 2026 inspection of Daang Maharlika, DPWH Secretary Vince Dizon said the national government was moving to address long-delayed rehabilitation of the major highway corridor.
The Philippine Information Agency reported that Samar Governor Sharee Ann Tan renewed calls for sustained national funding, saying 52 percent of Region 8’s national roads are located in Samar.
She said previous allocations had been insufficient to address the province’s road requirements and called for broader rehabilitation rather than piecemeal repairs.
Dizon, meanwhile, said the administration was committed to rehabilitating Daang Maharlika from Aparri to Mindanao, with completion targeted by the end of 2027.
He stressed that long-term rehabilitation, rather than repeated temporary repairs, was necessary for road sections repeatedly damaged by weather and other conditions.
The continuing deterioration highlights the scale of Samar’s infrastructure challenge.
For a province heavily dependent on road transport for trade, agriculture, tourism and access to basic services, damaged highways are more than an inconvenience as they directly affect mobility, safety and economic activity.
The earlier P450-million allocation offered relief to some of the province’s worst road sections. But the renewed calls for special funding in 2026 show that Samar’s “hellish roads” remain a problem requiring sustained investment, proper engineering and long-term maintenance and not merely another round of emergency patching.
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