Senator Grace Poe on Thursday expressed her belief that it is high time for the Philippines to look for alternative sources of funding from other countries for the proposed Mindanao Railway Project.

According to Poe, who chairs the Senate Committee on Public Services, the country may pursue official development assistance from other countries following the Department of Transportation's move to drop China as a funding source for the P83-billion railway project in the southern Philippines.

"It's time to explore ODAs from other countries and seek available funding options from multilateral institutions and international assistance agencies that can deliver the goods," she said in a statement.

Poe noted that the withdrawal of the ODA from China for a railway project "should not derail the implementation of our infrastructure programs,"

"In the past years, Chinese banks have also kept us in suspended animation with delays in our loan applications putting in limbo a number of government projects," she said.

"While appearing attractive, the loans are not exactly that benevolent as they come with hefty interest rates and other strings that could be detrimental to the country in the long term," she added.

She also suggested to the government to tap the private sector which she said "holds the potential of accelerating infrastructure development and bringing innovative and efficient services."

She issued the statement after Transportation Secretary Jaime Bautista confirmed that the Philippines is no longer loan financing from China for the first phase of the Mindanao Railway Project.

The first phase of the railway project aims to reduce travel time between Tagum in Davao del Norte and Digos in Davao del Sur by one hour from the current 3.5 hours.

Quoting Bautista, Senate President Juan Miguel "Migz" Zubiri said in August that the Philippine government would no longer engage Chinese state-owned companies for major infrastructure projects in the country.

"I talked to Secretary Jimmy Bautista, he was at the Senate recently. We talked one-on-one. I told him: 'Secretary, you are seeing what they are doing to your Coast Guard, right?'" he said

"I told him not to give Chinese state-owned companies projects here in the Philippines such as trains. We have the North to South Railways…. Let us not give it to them. Let us give it to South Morea or Japan instead," he added.

He continued: "I was glad because Secretary Bautista said they would no longer Chinese state-owned companies for their trains, airports, and big-ticket items."

The construction of the Tagum-Davao-Digos segment of the Mindanao Railway Project was supposed to start in January 2019.