Infrastructure Profile
Transportation/Road Network
Roads and Bridges
Santiago City connects several provinces with the following eight major roads crossing the city. Roads are classified into national, city and barangay roads including the NIA access. Three major roads basically comprise the core of Santiago City’s road network:
(1) Daang Maharlika, 10.467 kilometers national road that horizontally traverses the area from the west to east (Sinsayon-Divisoria), strategically cutting through the center of the city,
(2) Santiago City - Tuguegarao Highway (Mabini-Rizal), 5.036 kilometers, is another national road that stretches from Maharlika and extends to the city’s northern boundary; and
(3) Santiago City - Saguday Road, 9.788 kilometers, a National Road (formerly a Provincial Road) which begins from Camacam Road in Centro East and Quirino Province to the South. It was also already constructed the Segment 1 that spanned 4.48 kilometers constituting the first part of the four segments for the proposed circumferential road circling the whole city.
In terms of road type including the barangay roads, 361.678 kilometers (64.56% of the total) are concreted, 10.141 kilometers (1.81%) are asphalted; 82.630 kilometers (14.749%) are gravelled, 105.484 kilometers (18.828%) are earth surfaced and a road opening of 0.305 kilometers.
As of 2018, Santiago City road network has expanded to 560.237 kilometers road length, 17.291 kilometers more than the recorded 542.946 kilometers in 2016. Of this total, 29.771 kilometers are National built roads (this includes Segment 1 of Circumferential road) and Daang Maharlika, 19.147 kilometers of which are city roads, 382.319 kilometers are barangay roads and streets, and 129 kilometers are NIA access roads.
The City has 42 bridges spanning 1,533.34 meters wherein eight (8) are national bridges with a total length of 386.30 meters, and 34 are city bridges with a total length of 1147.04 meters. These bridges connect all clustered regions close to the metropolis and relatively bring the people closer to the government.
Land Transport
The City of Santiago is accessible by plane via Cauayan City Airport which is about 55-60 minutes away from Metro Manila. From the Cauayan City Airport, the city is about 48 kilometers away which is 45-60 minutes travel via land transportation.
Cebu Pacific’s regular schedule is every MWF morning flights to and from Metro Manila. By land transportation via shuttle transport vehicle or bus, City of Santiago is 8 to 10 hours drive from Manila.
The City’s strategic location serves as bridge to the region’s provincial network. Inventory of Land Transport Vehicle indicates that 14,619 transport vehicles pass through Santiago City North Bound and 15,562 South Bound. The largest number of land transport was occupied by tricycles with 82 terminals and 7000 units servicing the city. Next in numbers are public utility vans with 16 terminals and 592 units, public utility jeepneys have 12 terminals and 285 units.
The city was also made a hub for transport companies. There are 7 bus terminals with 169 units around the city including JAE Bus terminal with 21 bus companies, ITTC Fourlanes, Northern Luzon Bus Line, SAMADJOSAN, Five Star, Victory Liner and Florida/GMW Terminal.
Power
Power supply in the city is presently sourced from Isabela Electric Cooperative, Inc. (ISELCO I), a power franchise holder based in Alicia, Isabela. ISELCO I source its power from Magat River Hydroelectric Plant of National Power Corporation with sub-station at Rizal, Santiago City. NPC is a government agency that provides financial assistance to Electric Cooperatives and other electric power providers. While ISELCO I manages the distribution of electricity, maintenance of electric system, and collection of bills with a power consumption rate of P5.33 per kilowatt hour.
As of 2017, 100% or 37 barangays of the City has been energized. About 32,680 households or 94.69% have access to power supply. Of this magnitude, 23,670 households or 72.43% are served in the urban barangays, while the rest in rural areas.
Waterworks
In 2017, about 34,417 or 99.7% households have access to water supply. However, there are still 566 households without access to improved water supply (i.e. no access to either Level II or III water supply). The accomplishment for the past six years from 2011 to 2017 revealed that it is still high as compared to the MDG Target in 2016 that is 86.5%.
Majority of households in the urban barangays are being served by Santiago Water District (SANWAD), while rural barangays take water supply from deep wells, hand pumps, shallow tube wells. During summer season, water level recedes (as experienced nowadays by some household in various barangays) due to depletion of aquifers (water-bearing strata) and relatively, recharge of these aquifers is another challenging issue. While during rainy seasons or longer rain periods, water bodies are prone to contamination due to flooding. Usually in paved and impervious ground surfaces, surface run-off normally directs its flow towards the local drainage system and outfalls to rivers where minimal water percolation and recharge of aquifers has been undertaken along the way.
SANWAD manages to supply the water demand of the City with its existing fourteen (14) pumping stations. Currently, the consumers’ average monthly water consumption is 266,192 cubic meters.
Communication
The City of Santiago has nine (9) broadcast media stations: Two(2) FM Network Waves (DWIP & DWMX), Two(2) AM Band (DWSI AND DZRH), End Time Mission Broadcasting Services Inc., Radio Maria Foundation Inc., Music Link Entertainment & Broadcast Services, Music World Broadcasting Services, and Far East Broadcasting Co. (Phils).Inc. Each station broadcasts an average air time of 18 hours per day. Regular daily television programs are also viewed through the operation of three(3) privately owned relay station companies such as ABS-CBN, GMA Network and City Cable.
Telecommunication companies that operate in the city are SMART/PLDT, Globe, and Digitel. PLDT being the dominant telecommunication provider in the City has currently installed wired and wireless connections with a speed of 5 mbps. In the 2017 CBMS data, there are about 4,857 households with internet connection while 85% of the households utilized cellphones.
Postal service either domestic or international is mainly provided by the Philippine Postal Corporation. Package and message delivery are also provided by the LBC Cargo and JRS.
Administrative Infrastructure
Priming itself as the institutional center of Cagayan Valley, the City of Santiago is also a key government center for 21 national government offices. The list includes 15 national government agencies and 6 government-owned and controlled corporations. The list includes the offices of TESDA-SICAT, National Food Authority (NFA), National Irrigation Authority (NIA), National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP), Municipal Trial Court (MTC), Regional Trial Court (RTC), National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) Satellite Office, Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA)-Consular Office as well as social insurance agencies like Government Service Insurance System (GSIS), and Social Security System (SSS).