OPINION: Our government has failed to give us something as basic as a sidewalk

A safe sidewalk is one of the most basic public services a government can provide.

You arrive in Tokyo after a long flight, luggage in hand.

The train station is about a kilometer from your hotel. You don’t book a taxi. You simply walk.

The sidewalk is wide, continuous, and unobstructed. Every intersection has curb ramps. Every crossing feels safe. You wheel your suitcase the entire way without lifting it once. Twenty minutes later, you arrive at your hotel wondering why something so ordinary feels almost luxurious.

Then you return to the Philippines.

That same one-kilometer walk suddenly becomes an obstacle course. Sidewalks disappear without warning. Motorcycles and parked vehicles occupy pedestrian space. Utility poles stand in the middle of walkways. Vendors, broken pavement, puddles, and construction barriers force you onto the road, inches away from speeding traffic.

That is perhaps one of the greatest deprivations Filipinos have quietly learned to accept.

We have been deprived of something as basic as a sidewalk.

Mobility advocates estimate that 94% of Filipinos either walk or use public transportation. Every commute begins and ends on foot. Yet our cities continue to prioritize moving cars over protecting people.

A sidewalk isn’t just concrete. It is the first and last kilometer of every train ride, jeepney trip, and bus commute.

Its absence punishes those who have the least.

If you own a car, a bad sidewalk is an inconvenience. If you rely on walking because you cannot afford a car, it becomes a daily hazard. That makes poor sidewalks fundamentally anti-poor.

The burden is even heavier for persons with disabilities, senior citizens, and parents pushing strollers. Many sidewalks are narrower than the recommended 1.2-meter minimum width. Others have no usable curb ramps or tactile paving. Some end abruptly, while others are blocked by poles or parked vehicles. For someone using a wheelchair, these aren’t inconveniences—they are walls.

Ironically, national policies already place pedestrians at the top of the road-user hierarchy and require accessible, PWD-friendly sidewalks. Yet implementation remains fragmented, with inconsistent planning and enforcement across local governments.

The cost of neglect goes beyond discomfort. Better sidewalks reduce pedestrian deaths, encourage walking, improve access to public transport, ease traffic by replacing short vehicle trips, support neighborhood businesses, and promote healthier lifestyles.

The irony is painful.

We celebrate every newly built sidewalk as if it were a gift.

It isn’t.

A safe sidewalk is not a luxury reserved for wealthy countries. It is one of the most basic public services a government can provide.

My walk in Tokyo wasn’t memorable because Japan is extraordinary.

It was memorable because it reminded me what a city looks like when it remembers that people walk.

Filipinos deserve that too.

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