Every school, hospital, and housing project Mayor Francisco “Isko” Moreno Domagoso builds in Manila is a high-rise.
The maverick mayor said this was not out of architectural preference but out of necessity, fiscal logic, and a deliberate effort to anticipate the city’s needs 15 years into the future before the demand outpaces the supply.
Domagoso explained his building philosophy in an interview on DZRH News program The Situation Report on Tuesday, September 15, responding to questions about why Manila’s public schools and hospitals look more like commercial towers than typical government buildings.
The mayor said the first reason is geography: Manila covers only 42 square kilometers with almost no horizontal space left to expand, meaning the only direction available is up.
“Kasi sa probinsya maraming space, correct, pero in a highly urbanized setting like Manila, bakit… Bakit public school, air-conditioned? Alam mo, sabi ko nga, ‘Habang mahirap ang pera sa gobyerno, pero sa totoo mas mayaman ang gobyerno,'” he said.
Domagoso said the second reason is demographic anticipation: a baby born today will need a classroom in seven years, and by the time that child is school-age, if Manila has not already built the classroom, the shortage will be visible in the data and the solution will cost significantly more.
“As we speak, may ipinanganak. Seven years from now, uupo pa ‘yun ng espasyo, mag-aaral ‘yun. And let’s assume sa public school, then it’s gonna occupy a space. Then if you’re going to build seven years from now, hindi ka na magtataka na bakit may lumalabas na data na kulang tayo sa classroom,” the mayor said.
The mayor said the third reason is cost: building now is cheaper than building after the fact, and building tall enough to serve 15 years of projected growth is far more efficient than building a four-story structure today and discovering in a decade that the foundation cannot support additional floors.
“Kasi katulad niyan, halimbawa nagpatayo ka ng apat na palapag, ‘yung foundation halimbawa ginawa may pang-apat na palapag lang, eh wala nang espasyo in a highly urbanized setting,” Domagoso said.
Domagoso said government is uniquely positioned to build this way because unlike private schools that need to generate profit before expanding, government has fresh funds every year and can afford to build at scale and ahead of demand.
He stressed that every structure he builds is designed with a 15-year growth projection in mind, making the initial cost look large but the long-term value far greater than building incrementally and reactively.
