A straight path like no other

As President Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III marks his second year in office, the government is about to unwrap the premier infrastructure centerpiece program of his administration. It’s the P61.53-billion Light Rail Transit (LRT)-1 Cavite Extension Project. That is if the administration’s timetable is not sidetracked again by politics, if not corruption issues.

Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) Secretary Mar Roxas II earlier announced LRT-1 Cavite Extension Project, as approved by the National Economic and Development Authority last March, is now set for bidding before the end of this month.

It took almost ten years for the government to approve this mega-deal project. It was started by P-Noy’s immediate predecessor, former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.

The Cavite Extension project will extend the existing 20.7-km LRT Line 1 system, which runs from Roosevelt Avenue in Quezon City to Baclaran in Parañaque City, by an additional 11.7 km southwards to Bacoor, Cavite.

Eight passenger stations with a provision for two additional stations, one satellite depot and three intermodal facilities are part of the project. Once completed, the new line will increase ridership of LRT-1 from 500,000 to 700,000 passengers per day. It will provide faster and more convenient alternative transport for residents of Cavite, as well as those in the cities of Las Piñas and Parañaque.

Already, the big boys of Philippine infrastructure development giants are lining up for a crack at the juicy contract. Both Ayala Corp. and San Miguel Corp. have expressed an interest in bagging the project.

But it seems that Manny Pangilinan’s Metro Pacific Investments will be wielding the ultimate weapon. If things work out, Meralco subsidiary MIESCORRAIL will align with Sumitomo Corp. in support of Metro Pacific to land the LRT Line-1 Cavite Extension Project.

Commenting on the recent partnership of conglomerates Ayala Corp. and Metro Pacific Investment Corp. to jointly participate in government infrastructure projects, Roxas said: “We want companies with huge capitalization, who have a good track record of delivering large infrastructure projects, who clearly have access to the [latest] technology, manpower, management and all the skills necessary to successfully deliver all of these projects.”

The LRT-1 Extension, to be undertaken by the LRT Authority (LRTA), is among those included in the Aquino administration’s flagship projects in its so-called Private-Public Partnership (PPP). The LRTA is a government-owned and controlled corporation under the supervision of the DOTC.

If the timetable is followed, Roxas said the construction of the first half of LRT-1 Extension would be completed late 2014 and the other half by late 2015. But first things first: P-Noy should name a permanent LRTA administrator. This post has been vacant since March this year with the resignation of its former chief Rafael Rodriguez.

Rodriguez supposedly resigned to resume his political career in Cavite amid controversies that hounded his management of the LRTA. Rodriguez belongs to P-Noy’s Liberal Party (LP), where he is Cavite chapter chairman and has among his members Reps. Erineo Maliksi and Joseph Emilio Abaya. Incidentally, Roxas is president of the LP.

With such big-ticket item infrastructure project in the province, naturally there is a strong Cavite lobby led by Maliksi to select a Caviteño or an ally. Specifically identified is a certain Joseph Dilay, whose family owned a previous LRT Line-1 maintenance contractor company Genials, as possible replacement of Rodriguez as LRTA chief.

We wonder if Roxas and P-Noy are aware that Dilay also owns Genials, the joint venture partner of Meralco Industrial Engineering Services Corp. (MIESCOR) in MIESCORRAIL. This little piece of information spells the difference between winning and losing the multi-billion peso project.

Roxas was earlier quoted having stated that belonging to a certain province is not, and should not be a basis for appointment of the new LRTA chief. “One only has to be a Filipino. And competent,” Roxas stressed. The DOTC Secretary disclosed he had interviewed and vetted a number of candidates before submitting a shortlist to P-Noy for the latter’s final selection.

It may be difficult for the DOTC secretary to resist Dilay.

In the first place, Dilay is an experienced railway engineer licensed in both the US and Canada, certainly unlike his predecessors who are trained musicians and lawyers.

Industry sources claim Dilay is behind the LRTA’s Purple Line (MRT 2) track design. However, the design of the track line between Legarda and Pureza stations was reportedly flawed. Due to the poorly designed curvature of the track, trains are required to decelerate to 40 kilometer per hour (kph), instead of the normal 60kph on both east and west bound trains.

In keen anticipation of a certain appointment (and to scuttle conflict-of-interest issues), Dilay is rumored to be already divesting his shares in Genials and related companies owned and controlled by his family through the JAD group of companies. These companies owe their survival to their big business relationship with LRTA.

In LRTA’s history, however, qualifications of the appointed administrator seem least important. Of more significance are the backers, a practice done in any other government offices for that matter.

Maliksi, former governor of Cavite province, was also responsible for the appointment of the erstwhile LRTA chief. Prior to his stint at LRTA, Rodriguez previously served as board member in Maliksi’s Cavite provincial government.

While Maliksi was governor of Cavite, the provincial government was the recipient of LRTA’s P500 million largesse to uproot and resettle informal settlers living along the path of the LRT-1 extension. The Commission on Audit (COA), according to incumbent Gov. Jonvic Remulla, earlier came out with a report that questioned alleged irregularities in the use of these public funds for a resettlement site in General Trias, Cavite. To date, nothing has come out of any action taken on these reported anomalies, Remulla cited.

Nothing could best symbolize P-Noy administration’s governance policy of “Matuwid na Daan” like the LRT-1 Extension project that runs above the ground on a straight rail track.

It should be worth watching how this project would eventually be carried out on a straight path like no other.