Once more we need a heavy gauge rail, not LRT

It seems that the AMA Group Holdings Corp. now has a project office for the Light Rail Transit (LRT) project here in Cebu when they assigned its Vice-President Mr. Johnny Ramos to be its Project Manager. Now that we‘ve got someone assigned to this project, allow me to fire once more a pertinent question that still remain unanswered as of this time. So Mr. Johnny Ramos, let me ask a question where we the Cebu media was left hanging a couple of years ago… what is the capital investment that the AMA Group is putting into this LRT project? I can only hope that this time around, we would get a good and honest reply from Mr. Ramos.

The other pertinent query we’ve always wanted to ask is, why is the AMA Group still pursuing an Light Rail Project when, we have already seen what it has done in Metro Manila… where the LRT attracted more people to live within Metro Manila, thus adding to its already congested population? At a population of more than 12 million, Metro Manila needs to be decongested, but the proponents of the LRT, I, II and III never cared to look outward and investing in making the Philippine National Railways (PNR) as good as the current LRT so that it would have give options to the people in Metro Manila to live in places like Clark or Subic for a 45-minute ride.

This was one of the things I discussed with Pres. Gloria Macapagal Arroyo (GMA) in Hua Hin, Thailand, because the AMA Group insist on using the LRT system, which to my mind is merely copying the mistakes of Metro Manila. I have written about the LRT for many years now and I’m convinced that Cebu doesn’t need a Light Rail system, but a heavy gauge rail similar to the New York-Long Island Railway that brings commuters from Connecticut all the way to downtown Manhattan on a regular railway.

A couple of weeks ago, my good friend, Cebu Investment Promotion Center (CIPC) Managing Director Mr. Joel Yu asked me why I wanted a heavy gauge railway for the Province of Cebu when there are no businesses or should I say cargo to haul on the train? I told him that this is merely a chicken and egg scenario… where because of the lack of a railway to the north or south of Cebu, factories do not care to invest in those places because our roadways are already congested.

Let me remind the AMA Group that Cebu once had a railway system during the pre-war days, where many people who lived in Carcar would take the train to Cebu City (it was at a time when the trains were faster than our buses) and return to Carcar later in the day. With the speed of modern trains today, a fast train (not a Light Rail) on the ground can travel at more than 150 kms to 200 kms per hour and Carcar is merely a 30 minute ride from Cebu City. This means, the trains can decongest Metro Cebu and allow the population to live where the water is abundant and cost of living is lower.

This is what the AMA Group ought to be studying, instead of having a “damn the torpedoes” attitude and insisting for an LRT for Cebu. That way, they can still have a rail-based project that would complement the Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) that the World Bank has now approved for Cebu City. What the AMA Group ought to do is ensure that their project would be welcome to Cebuanos… and not merely satisfy the politicos behind the project… after all politicians come and go, while the rail projects would be here to stay.

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US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is expected to be in Manila this Thursday Nov.12th to express her strong support for the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA). As expected, the Arroyo Administration will reaffirm its defense ties with the US, after all, like it or not, the US has always been our strategic partner for many decades. The problem really is that, those leftist militant groups are the ones shouting against the US because they know too well that the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) have benefited greatly with this mutual defense agreement, which allowed the military to be properly equipped to fight our decades old insurgency and the Muslim separatist groups in Mindanao. 

Just a month ago, when Tropical Storm “Ondoy” and “Pepeng” devastated Northern Luzon, it was a squadron of CH-46 Sea Knights that swooped down to the flooded areas in Pampanga and Baguio City which was isolated due to landslides that destroyed the roads leading to that city. Without those US helicopters assisting the military in our disaster relief and rescue efforts, there would have been more casualties reported.

Sure, I agree with many proud pundits that as a free and sovereign nation, we should be less dependent on American aid. But the reality on the ground is that, our military is hopelessly pathetic without US help, thanks to our lackluster economy that cannot afford to beef up our AFP.

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