The Department of Transportation has remained optimistic that public transportation in the Philippines could still improve and be on par with its ASEAN neighbors, provided that funding for big-ticket projects, including railways and subways, is not gutted by Congress again, as was seen in previous budgets.

At a Senate budget hearing on Friday, Senator Erwin Tulfo lamented that the Philippines’ mass transportation remains poor and underdeveloped compared to other Southeast Asian countries, such as Vietnam, which has made significant progress in transportation infrastructure despite its history of war. 

A 2025 report by the Philippine Institute for Development Studies found that the Philippines continues to lag behind its Southeast Asian neighbors in transport infrastructure development, particularly in airports, railways, and ports. 

DOTr Secretary Giovanni Lopez said the Philippines could still overcome transit woes by prioritizing railway projects to ease traffic congestion. 

These projects, he emphasized, will only materialize if they receive consistent funding from the government, with Congress safeguarding its budget against any potential cuts, as seen in recent budgets. 

“There have been so many problems that have come up here. We don’t want to point fingers at where the funds went,” he said in Filipino. “The moment the funds are removed—say you are not given funding for one year or two—the problem is that the delay won’t just be for a year or two.” 

The DOTr chief was referring to the Metro Manila Subway Project (MMSP) and the North-South Commuter Railway (NSCR), or the expanded Philippine National Railways, with estimated costs of P488.5 billion and P873.6 billion, respectively, or a combined price tag of P1.4 trillion.

According to Lopez, defunding these projects requires rehiring workers and remobilizing equipment, among other things, effectively starting from scratch.

Furthermore, the government faces billions in financial repercussions, including commitment fees, penalties, and material and labor costs.

The MMSP and the NSCR are flagship projects under President Marcos Jr.'s “Build Better More” and are financed primarily by the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) through a loan.

Marcos set the completion date for the MMSP—the country’s first-ever underground railway system expected to ease traffic and reduce travel time in Metro Manila—on or before he stepped down from office in 2028. The NSCR was also initially projected to be finished in the same year. 

The 19th Congress, however, reportedly gutted the counterpart funding for the two projects in the 2023, 2024, and 2025 General Appropriations Acts to make room for congressional “insertions” and their pet projects, including those related to flood control.

Lawmakers allegedly lodged the funds for the two projects under unprogrammed appropriations (UA), which could only be activated when the government hits specific revenue surpluses or secures new foreign loans.

As a result, the MMSP’s completion date was moved from 2028 to 2032, while the NSCR’s full operation date was extended until 2033, although Giovanni said partial operations, covering the Valenzuela-to-Malolos segment, are expected in December 2027.

Lopez said he hopes Congress has learned its lesson from previous budget blunders and will restore the necessary funding to ensure the timely completion of big-ticket projects. 

Senate committee on finance chair JV Ejercito said the Japanese government and JICA had already complained personally to Marcos about the delays.

Due to this, he said the Senate will not allow the budget for foreign-assisted projects to be bumped off in the UA, but it will be included in the programmed funds, given that they are priority projects and loans that carry commitment fees.

“It is disheartening that projects supposed to be operational by 2028, specifically the NSCR and, hopefully, the Metro Manila Subway, have been pushed back by several years. They were delayed until 2030 to 2032 simply because they were relegated to unprogrammed appropriations, as greedy individuals prioritized their own projects by placing them under programmed appropriations,” Ejercito lamented.

“That must not happen again; obligations are meant to be honored,” he stressed.

The DOTr is set to receive a P163.11 billion increase in the 2027 budget, from P137.84 billion in the 2026 GAA to P300.96 billion. However, the DOTr said the funding remains substantially lower than its original request of P624.48 billion.

The breakdown showed DOTr initially requested funding for 179 projects for next year, but 30 were granted by the Department of Budget and Management with an allocation of P237.349 billion.

Nearly P195 billion was earmarked for railway projects, lower than the P529.98 billion proposed by the DOTr. The MMSP and the NSCR will account for the largest share, at P67.44 billion and P123.84 billion, respectively.