Dads block Villar LRT-1 line hijack

Tycoon Manny Villar’s attempt to take over the construction of the Light Rail Transit Line 1’s (LRT1) Cavite Extension Project has Las Piñas City councilors up in arms.

The local officials said that Villar’s plan is meant to benefit his company and its projects.

In a press conference in August last year, Villar voiced his intention to take over the last three stations and add seven more stops to extend the line to Dasmariñas, Cavite, via Molino.

The billionaire businessman also proposed to take over the construction as well as the operations of the LRT1 Cavite leg.

Las Piñas Councilor Mark Anthony Santos opposed the Villar proposal to build stations in Cavite instead of the Light Rail Manila Corporation (LRMC). Daily Tribune tried to get LRMC’s side but it declined to comment.

“Who will benefit from the LRT1 rerouting? The Villars,” Santos said.

The national government and LRMC have spent billions of pesos for the remaining three stations going to Cavite.

According to the councilor, Villar had disclosed that his main goal is to link Metro Manila with his budding 3,500-hectare metropolis eponymously called Villar City.

Aside from Villar City, most of the Villar properties like subdivisions and condominiums are located near the stations where the proposed extended Cavite leg will pass.

Greed-fueled project

“It seems that this is a self-serving and greedy project,” Santos said.

Santos earlier revealed that Villar’s Mella Hotel, located at Villar Sipag, C5 Extension Road, Las Piñas, has not paid a single centavo of real property tax to the city government since the hotel was opened to the public five years ago.

The construction of the LRT-1 Cavite Extension Phase 1 is progressing as scheduled at a 98.2 percent completion rate, as it remains on track for its target commercial opening in the fourth quarter of 2024.

The first phase will extend the existing Line 1 by 6.2 kilometers.

The Cavite extension will connect to the Baclaran station and continue to run southward.

It will traverse the cities of Parañaque and Las Piñas and end at Barangay Niog in Bacoor.

The five new stations under the first portion of the project are currently at various stages of completion with the Redemptorist Station registering at 97.4 percent; Manila International Airport Station at 97.2 percent; Asia World Station at 90.4 percent; Ninoy Aquino Station at 93.5 percent and Dr. Santos Station at 97.7 percent.

Las Piñas Councilor Jess Bustamante said the timely completion of the LRT-1 project would greatly benefit the residents of Las Piñas, as well as Metro Manila and the province of Cavite.

However, this is just the first of the remaining stations in the Cavite leg that are yet to be operational in 2031, namely Las Piñas, Zapote and Niog.

LRMC general manager Enrico Benipayo confirmed the second and third phases of the LRT-1 Cavite Extension are expected to be completed by 2031.

Earlier, LRMC said the project would be completed by 2027 but noted that this would depend on right-of-way (RoW) acquisitions.

With a project cost of P64.915 billion, the LRT-1 Cavite Extension is being financed through a hybrid model consisting of P17.8 billion in official development assistance from the Japan International Cooperation Agency.

It turns out the RoW problems are caused by the Villar group, thus the offer to take over the portions of the project near the assets of the property firm.