Around 65 house and lot owners under Segment 3A of the Metro Cebu Expressway (MCE) have yet to receive right-of-way (ROW) compensation since 2019, when authorities cleared their properties for the project.
Protest during presidential visit
The unpaid residents gathered at the construction site in Barangay Cantao-an, City of Naga on Monday, June 22, 2026, to bring their grievances directly to National Government officials during an inspection visit by President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) Secretary Vince Dizon.
The presidential visit aimed to inspect Segment 3A and expedite construction to assist nearby factory workers. Protesters, however, were only able to speak with a legal representative from DPWH 7, who scheduled a formal meeting with the homeowners on Tuesday, June 23, at the DPWH 7 office in the South Road Properties (SRP) to discuss the pending claims.
Long-standing grievances
“They asked us to go to their office tomorrow,” Nena Dadol, 58, vice president of their village association and one of the affected residents, said in Cebuano when asked about the remedy offered by DPWH 7 officials.
The daily battle to follow up on their claims has pushed Dadol to her limits, forcing her to make frequent, expensive trips to the regional office. “If we are talking about hardships, I have reached the point where I constantly go to the DPWH office, I keep going there even though their office in SRP is not easily accessible,” Dadol said in Cebuano.
Despite being advised by her group not to attend the presidential visit, Dadol stood by the site to ensure their financial neglect and destroyed homes would be noticed. She recalled the terrifying moment a major road collapse hit the project site in October 2023, which amplified her anxiety over her family’s unstable situation. “To be honest, when the collapse happened here, I really cried. My crying was not because I was afraid, but because if my child gets sick again, it will be hard for me to recover,” Dadol said.
Dadol said that the National Government continuously delays payouts without providing alternative financial support for the displaced families who lost their homes.
DPWH explanation
Brando Ray Raya, chief of the DPWH 7 Right of Way, Acquisition and Legal Division, said that the 65 households were not included in the agency’s list of payables because their properties do not fall within direct project lines. “This was not hit by the project, nor was it included in the partial plan. That is our concern now,” he said in Cebuano.
Raya said the agency needs to gather more information regarding the situation of the affected residents. He explained that standard ROW payments only cover structures inside the specified road width. “We in the right-of-way unit did not identify them because we at DPWH only pay right-of-way payments if you are inside our projects. For example, if this is the width of the road, your house is there and you are identified, that is what we pay because that is our justified payment,” he said.
Raya added that property destruction linked to a landslide falls outside standard ROW acquisition rules, though the agency agreed to review the cases of the 65 owners affected by the soil movement. “If you say it is damage like this because of the landslide, that is another story. We do not have that part of a claim yet at DPWH where we consider damage due to a landslide as a right-of-way payment,” he said in a mix of Cebuano and English.
Compensation framework
DPWH 7 records show 120 households are currently listed under Segment 3A, with 15 covered by negotiated sales and the rest undergoing expropriation proceedings. Raya explained that expropriation timelines vary because the agency must wait for court decisions, and he reiterated that legal frameworks governing infrastructure funds do not cover natural disasters. “Yes, we are willing to sit down. But again, the damage was not considered due to the fault of DPWH because the soil moved due to natural trail causes, which is why we do not have that form of payment,” Raya said in a mix of Cebuano and English.
Urgent infrastructure repairs
President Marcos said during the inspection that a landslide heavily damaged the section, forcing local factory workers to travel on foot. “And there was a landslide here and the road was damaged. And the employees of the plant here had to walk. Even if it’s raining, even if it’s hot, they can’t use the road,” Marcos said.
He explained that the administration promised to complete the repairs by June, noting that the project is now almost finished and usable. He emphasized the urgency of fixing the infrastructure to protect investors, noting that wet road conditions during heavy rains damage the smartphone camera lenses produced by the nearby plant. He stated it is a shame for the National Government not to take good care of its investors, which is why the agency is executing the repairs immediately.
The road stabilization is critical for the nearby MinebeaMitsumi plant, a smartphone camera lens manufacturer that employs 4,000 Filipino workers. Tatsuya Mori, president of MinebeaMitsumi, said that heavy rains and road blockages had severely disrupted factory operations and employee transportation since 2022. “Whenever we have a heavy rain, we have very big problem with transportation,” Mori said.
The 56.94-kilometer expressway, a P1.9-billion project designed to connect the City of Naga in the south to Danao City in the north, has faced nearly eight years of delays since construction began in 2018. Segment 3A was halted after a section collapsed in October 2023 due to underground cavities, leading to a February 2024 cease and desist order. Following a partial lifting of the order in August 2025, the DPWH enforced a final June 2026 completion deadline, ordering contractors to use specialized jet grouting to stabilize the slope.
