Benhur Abalos (Facebook)

The railway is the way to go, according to Alyansa para sa Bagong Pilipinas senatorial candidate Benhur Abalos.

Abalos frowned over Filipinos' car-centric views, as he said that the country should instead lean more into "bringing back the old glory" of the Philippine National Railways (PNR).

Sad to say, ang pananaw kase natin ay Western-based. Puro kotse or car-centric (Sad to say, we are Western-based in our views. We're too car-centric)...The easiest solution is mass transport system,” said Abalos.

“In the same token I believe in subways, I believe in railways not only in Bicol but also in the whole country,” he added.

In committing his support to revive and further improve PNR operations into a fast and comfortable transport system, Abalos says there is no better way to ensure a reliable transport system than to invest in a railway system.

He said a study of the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) in 2017 revealed that the Philippines is losing at least P3 billion every day due to traffic congestion. 

Abalos, who used to head the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA), said that no amount of new policies like odd-even traffic schemes and road widening could address the problem. 

The aspiring senator earlier expressed support for a railway system in Mindanao and urban areas of the Visayas. But in pursuing this, Abalos said there is a need to come up with the best plan for railways systems across the country, including the legal processes in expediting the resolution of the right-of-way issues.

“May mga makukunan tayong pondo eventually at marami tayong eksperto sa railway system. Ang problema dito ay yung right-of-way issues dahil dito talaga nagtatagal ang proyekto,” said Abalos.

(We will eventually source the funds, we also have a lot of experts on railway systems. The problem here is the right-of-way issues, these really prolong the project's implementation.)

“So kailangan nating planuhin natin ito in the earlier possible kasama ang mga legal issues para madali na ang paglatag ng mga proyekto sa mass transport system,” said Abalos.

(So we need to plan this out in the earliest possible time together with the legal issues so that we can easily lay out the projects on the mass transport system.)