Peddling an alternative reality
Senator Cynthia Villar has raised eyebrows regarding the next legs of the Light Rail Transit 1 extension that partially opened its Parañaque stations recently. A video circulating online showed the senator claiming that through the benevolence of the Villar family, the mass transit system is getting built.
“Don’t you know that all of the roads that the Light Rail Transit 1 will pass through along C5 will be over Villar properties? These were donated by former Senate President Manny Villar, for free, to the government,” went the senator appearing before a barangay caucus.
She then claimed that President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. was grateful to the Villars for the land donations.
“The donations were made to ensure that we will have an LRT in Las Piñas,” Villar said. “The next phase will be over a Villar property on Molino Boulevard, near the bridge that I helped build so that residents of District 2 will have an LRT station. Isn’t that beautiful.”
“How can they say that we (Villars) are not supporting the LRT?” the senator asked. “We are supportive of the LRT.”
However, the LRT consortium and the Department of Transportation (DoTr) are said to be lukewarm over Villar’s unsolicited proposal for the new stations in Las Piñas City and Bacoor, Cavite.
The first phase that opened includes stops on Redemptorist-Aseana, MIA Road, PITX, Ninoy Aquino, and Dr. Santos, which stretched the LRT-1 line from Baclaran.
The second phase of the project will traverse Las Piñas and the third will end in Bacoor.
The Light Rail Manila Corp. (LRMC) broke ground for the 11.7-kilometer LRT1 Cavite Extension in May 2019, while physical construction began on 29 September 2019. The project, however, has been delayed several times due to right-of-way issues, aside from the Covid-19 pandemic.
LRMC is a partnership between Metro Pacific Investments Corp. (MPIC) and Ayala Corp. (AC).
The Villar family’s Prime Asset Ventures Inc. (PAVI) has proposed to take over the next phase of the LRT-1 extension project by adding seven stations beyond the ongoing development of five stations.
In August last year, Villar told reporters that her team had submitted a proposal to the DoTr to take over the rail line’s Cavite portion.
Villar then claimed that the LRMC consortium was considering dropping the plans to run the railway all the way up to Cavite and that she had submitted an unsolicited proposal.
“I will continue the LRT,” Villar vowed.
Up to today, however, LRMC has refused to comment on the proposal.
Transportation Secretary Jaime Bautista said LRMC, not the Villar group, is working on building the remaining segments of the Cavite line during the Marcos administration.