IF narratives about the Mindanao Railway is to be believed, the project was conceived 1936 by the late President Manuel Quezon. It blossomed in 2013 when Cagayan de Oro representative Rufus Rodriguez Aquino administration to include the project under the Public-Private Partnership (PPP). The feasibility study was funded to the tune of P30 million,
It was in 2016, when then President Rodrigo Duterte’s first State of the Nation Address (SONA) announced the long dreamed Mindanao Railway Project (MRP) will materialized, it was also on the same year when Duterte went to Beijing and met Chinese President Xi Jinping.
In 2015, the NEDA conducted a feasibility study and it was approved in 2016.
When Duterte came back to the country, he was so happy to announce that the MRP was among the projects he discussed with President XI and was given a green light for a loan proposal which was among the projects pipelined under his administrations Build! Build! Build! Programs.
Hooray! Was the shout of the day, as every Mindanaoans cheered when the news broke off, everyone in Davao City knows Duterte as a man of his words, who delivers what he promised.
The ground work for the project kicked off especially in Tagum City, Davao del Norte, as the Department of transportation (DoTr) downloaded the P100-million fund for the payment of road right of way and the procurement of almost 4-hectare property in Barangay Mankilam to accommodate the more then 250 families qualified informal settlers affected by the project- the relocation site was even baptized as Tagumpay Train Village.
The ground work continues, no one knew what happened with the P83-billion loan which the Philippines should have acquired from the Eximbank of China, a government bank, until July 15, 2022, When DoTr Undersecretary for Railways Jesus Chavez spilled the bitter pill, that the loan was cancelled as the Chinese government failed to act on it before June 30, 2022, the day when Duterte stepped down from the Palace.
Every Mindanaoan was surprised because their dreams were shattered and hope gone.
But President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr., in his inaugural speech, said he will continue the Build! Build! Build! Program of the Duterte administration because it benefits the people in the countryside, which include the Mindanao’ans.
Finance Secretary Benjamin Diokno in a statement said, the Philippine Government will ask for the review of the loan agreement because the President will try to sit down with Beijing officials to find ways to realize the project.
Given the complications and the assurances, given the Prayers and Wishes of Mindanaoans to have a railway, it is only proper that the national government listen to the voices of Mindanao people, as we often say, the road to peace is the road itself.
For Mindanaoans the Mindanao Railway Project is more that just a road, more than a passage, it is our share of what we called development. The Mindanao Railway Project is also our dream-our identity.
