Cayetano: Duterte presidency will ensure Mindanao railway system

MANILA, Philippines - The Mindanao railway system will be a reality if Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte is elected president, his running mate, Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano, said yesterday.

Cayetano said the proposed 200-kilometer railway system would be among the priorities of the Duterte administration.

He said the P75-billion project would keep food prices low because farmers can transfer their produce using the low-cost transport system. He said landlocked agricultural areas with no access to ports or cargo-loading airports would benefit from the project.

“Enough with our NCR-centric approach in tackling economic development. If the national government can fund the construction of the Metro Rail Transit in Metro Manila, which costs P50 billion… it can do the same for Mindanao’s long cherished dream of a railway system,” Cayetano said. 

“Now is the time to create real changes in the country. If we want economic growth to be really inclusive, we need to spur development in the countryside, particularly in Mindanao,” he  added.

Cagayan de Oro City Rep. Rufus Rodriguez and Abante Mindanao party-list Rep. Maximo Rodriguez Jr. earlier filed House Bill 3055 calling for the creation of a Mindanao Railways Corp., which will own and operate railroads, tramways and other kinds of land transportation as well as vessels and pipelines to transport people, mail and property all over Mindanao.