Hoist with own petard

Something is off in the offer of tycoon and former Senate President Manny Villar to take over part of the operations of the Cavite leg of the Light Rail Transit Line 1’s (LRT1) Cavite Extension Project and extend it farther to Silang.

The politician cum shrewd businessman dropped to third in the list of richest Filipinos of business bible Forbes from the top of the hill in last year’s ranking.

The recent efforts of his group seem directed at reclaiming the Forbes pole position.

Private operator Light Rail Manila Corp. (LRMC) is constructing the first five stations of the LRT1 Cavite Extension Project spanning 6.7 kilometers, from the city of Parañaque with terminals at Redemptorist, MIA, PITX Asia World, Ninoy Aquino, and Dr. Santos.

LRMC is a joint venture of tycoon Manny V. Pangilinan-led Metro Pacific Investments Corp. and Ayala Corp.’s AC Infrastructure along with Sumitomo Corp. and Macquarie Investments Holdings (Philippines) PTE Ltd.

The first phase of the project is 88-percent complete and is expected to be ready for operation by next year.

The project proponent is stopping the first phase of the rail line at Sucat, Parañaque, where the Dr. Santos station is located.

Villar in a meeting with reporters said he is offering to take over the remaining phase of the project consisting of the last three stations in Las Piñas, Zapote, and Niog.

Should his group take over, Villar said the rail system will be extended with an added seven stops from Niog in Bacoor to Governor’s Drive in Dasmariñas passing through Molino.

He revealed that he is in discussions with the groups of Manny V. Pangilinan and Ayala Corp. on his proposal.

Very uncanny was Villar’s virtual admission that he is applying pressure on the LRMC to give up the final leg of the project.

The Pangilinan-Ayala venture had said that delays in the delivery of right-of-way (RoW) access were hampering the start of groundworks for the final phase of the project.

For Villar, the advantage of surrendering the Cavite leg of the project to his group is that it would not encounter any RoW problems.

“We are negotiating because it looks like they don’t want to continue… they are stopping at Sucat,” Villar said.

He said the RoW would not be an issue since he owns the land covered by the proposed extension.

“I can get the right of way since I own the land where it will traverse,” he said.

He then added another sweetener in that the RoW over the Villar estate would be at no cost to the government.

Most of the Villar properties are located near the stations where the proposed extended Cavite leg will pass.

Villar said he is getting a partner to extend the railway “to Silang, close to Tagaytay.”

LRMC has refused to comment on the proposal since if it pulls through and the Cavite leg is sold to the Villar group, the businessman would be skirting the need to undergo a public bidding for such a huge project.

The squeeze play should also be placed in the context of his son, Senator Mark Villar, moving for a bill that will make it faster for the government to release payments of RoW compensations at market value.

The Department of Transportation said the Villar Group has yet to make an offer for the takeover of the rail project.

The Villar group must go through the government bidding process, like all other decent corporations for infrastructure contracts, that is required in a level playing field.