Government inks pact with rail dwellers

President Gloria Arroyo yesterday witnessed the signing of two key agreements for the resettlement of rail dwellers affected by the rehabilitation and modernization of the North and South railway systems.

The pacts were signed in simple rites at the Philippine National Railways (PNR) compound in Sangandaan, Caloocan, site of the proposed integrated North-South Central Station (NSCRS).

The President, in a white blouse and slacks, did not deliver the usual speech but stayed for about an hour and later shook hands with local residents. She gave out certificates of lot ownership to a token number of awardees, part of 300 family-beneficiaries in Barangay Bisig ng Kabataan abutting the PNR platform area.

The agreements on the financing scheme to implement the relocation program was signed by Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council (HUDCC) chairman Michael Defensor and representatives of the National Development Co., Department of Budget and Management (DBM), Pag-IBIG Fund, National Housing Authority (NHA) and the PNR.

Some 70,000 informal settler families living along the tracks from Global City in Makati to San Fernando, La Union stand to benefit from the fund package. The occasion also saw the turnover of the platform area back to the PNR after the North Railway Corp. (NRC) led the demolition of shanties and resettlement of some 363 families previously living in the property.

The turnover paves the way for the return of PNR trains running from Bicol to Bulacan and back. Relocation for Caloocan began March 31 while the one for the South begins in June this year, authorities said.

NRC president Jose Cortez said the government firm has set aside 21 diesel train engines. The trains will run on narrow gauge double tracks (two-way) at speed of 80 to 130 kilometers per hour for a reasonable fare of P42 for the 32.2 kilometer route from Caloocan to Malolos (Phase 1).

Defensor said the relocation program needs some P4 billion but said only about P550 million are available from the pooled resources of the NHA, the Pag-IBIG Fund and the 2003 national budget.