To counter this culture, Senator Miriam Defensor Santiago filed the Anti-Signage of Public Works Act or Anti-Epal Bill in 2010. The proposed law aimed to criminalize the placement of a public official’s name or image on government project signages.
In her explanatory note, the late Senator warned:
“Crediting individual public officers, instead of Government, leads to the following evils: First, it fosters and promotes a culture of political patronage and corruption, diminishing the importance of supporting government officials based on their essential policymaking role rather than mere popularity. Second, it weakens the concept of continuity in good governance in the public mind.”
Fostering policy stability
The same rationale should and must apply to Public-Private Partnership (PPP) projects, which are government undertakings in collaboration with private partners. They are not personal endeavors.
Beyond political vanity, prohibiting the display of names, images, acronyms, or symbols associated with public officials helps mitigate successor risk—the likelihood that a new administration may alter or discontinue policies, plans, or projects simply because they are linked to a previous official’s identity. Depersonalizing PPPs fosters policy stability and encourages long-term partnerships based on institutional rather than personal commitments.
Guardrail against political self-promotion
Another evil that de-epalization curbs is de facto campaigning. When a public official’s face or name is plastered across the length of a road, bridge, or transit system —or on the wall (whether a hospital, school, or gymnasium) of a project—it becomes a form of premature, taxpayer-funded political promotion. These tactics distort public perception and undermine electoral fairness.
The legacy that must endure beyond any term is not the memory of a name, but the lasting benefit of the project. The true north of every PPP is the people, i.e., their improved quality of life, their access to services and opportunities. Public-Private Partnerships must be for the people, not for a person. That should be the benchmark of success and public satisfaction.
De-epalizing PPPs helps future-proof public projects
Water systems, energy facilities, expressways, railway lines, school buildings, hospitals should be branded as government projects, not the legacy of a single official. Presidents, administrators, CEOs, governors, and mayors may come and go, but the institutions they serve, and the projects they pursue, remain and endure after they have left.
In truth, no single individual can carry out a PPP project alone. PPPs are institutional undertakings, involving the collective effort of government agencies and private sector partners. They are products of systems, not personalities.
De-epalizing PPPs is one way to future-proof them. It ensures that projects are not derailed by transitions in leadership and that trust is rooted in governance and accountability, not grandstanding.
We hope that one principled legislator, whether national or local, can do a Miriam.
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