ADVERTISEMENT
Manila Bulletin devider Business devider The Stock Market devider Gov't steps in with ₱3.6-billion loan to save LRT-1 partnership

Gov't steps in with ₱3.6-billion loan to save LRT-1 partnership

Published May 19, 2026 03:20 pm
Manuel V. Pangilinan
Manuel V. Pangilinan
The Department of Transportation (DOTr) has secured a loan from Land Bank of the Philippines (Landbank) to settle ₱3.6 billion in outstanding obligations to the private operator of the Light Rail Transit Line 1 (LRT-1), months after a major investor considered selling its stake.
Together with LRT-1 regulator Light Rail Transit Authority (LRTA), the DOTr said it has entered into a credit line agreement with Landbank to secure financing to cover the amount needed to pay off its years-long debt.
Acting Transportation Secretary Giovanni Lopez said honoring its financial commitments to Light Rail Manila Corp. (LRMC) would help ensure the continued improvement of services in the country’s oldest rail system.
“We hope that as we settle our obligation with the private concessionaire, we will see more improvements on their services, including structural upgrades, digitalization, and reliability of the rail line,” he said.
Lopez said securing the necessary financial resources from Landbank to address its obligations to LRMC is critical to fostering a “good relationship” with the operator.
The DOTr earlier said that it is exploring several options on how to pay off its debt to help LRMC cope with the investments it made in LRT-1 since taking over operations of the railway more than a decade ago.
In line its agreement with the government, LRMC has been busy upgrading the LRT-1, including working on new stations as part of the Cavite Extension project, which costs ₱39.57 billion based on initial estimates.
LRMC opened five new stations as part of the project’s first phase in 2024, increasing the number of stations in LRT-1 to 25.
Under its concession agreement, LRMC would be able to recoup some of its investments through fare adjustments once every two years.
However, the DOTr has only allowed the operator to increase fares twice since it assumed operations of LRT-1, resulting in a fare deficit of around ₱3 billion.
With such obligations left unfulfilled, business titan Manuel V. Pangilinan previously said he is considering selling the stake of Metro Pacific Investments Corp. (MPIC) in LRMC as investors flag mounting losses.
On top of this, Pangilinan said LRT-1 is unable to earn as much as it can because passenger volume has yet to return to its pre-pandemic level of 450,000 daily riders.
However, passenger traffic is slowly gaining momentum as more passengers take advantage of government programs and discounts, with LRT-1 expected to handle 450,000 passengers a day this year.
With this growing demand, LRMC is aiming to expand its presence in the country’s railway system by taking over the construction of the long-delayed Unified Grand Central Station.
Transportation Undersecretary Timothy John Batan said the DOTr has since held advanced discussions with LRMC regarding its unsolicited proposal for the project, which would first need the approval of the Economy and Development (ED) Council.
Once approved, he said the agency would then move to award the concession.
The Unified Grand Central Station would serve as a common station linking LRT-1, Metro Rail Transit Line 3 (MRT-3), and the under-construction MRT-7.

Related Tags

Department of Transportation (DOTr) Light Rail Manila Corp. (LRMC)
ADVERTISEMENT
.most-popular .layout-ratio{ padding-bottom: 79.13%; } @media (min-width: 768px) and (max-width: 1024px) { .widget-title { font-size: 15px !important; } }

{{ articles_filter_1561_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}
.most-popular .layout-ratio{ padding-bottom: 79.13%; } @media (min-width: 768px) and (max-width: 1024px) { .widget-title { font-size: 15px !important; } }

{{ articles_filter_1562_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}
.most-popular .layout-ratio{ padding-bottom: 79.13%; } @media (min-width: 768px) and (max-width: 1024px) { .widget-title { font-size: 15px !important; } }

{{ articles_filter_1563_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}

{{ articles_filter_1564_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}
.mb-article-details { position: relative; } .mb-article-details .article-body-preview, .mb-article-details .article-body-summary{ font-size: 17px; line-height: 30px; font-family: "Libre Caslon Text", serif; color: #000; } .mb-article-details .article-body-preview iframe , .mb-article-details .article-body-summary iframe{ width: 100%; margin: auto; } .read-more-background { background: linear-gradient(180deg, color(display-p3 1.000 1.000 1.000 / 0) 13.75%, color(display-p3 1.000 1.000 1.000 / 0.8) 30.79%, color(display-p3 1.000 1.000 1.000) 72.5%); position: absolute; height: 200px; width: 100%; bottom: 0; display: flex; justify-content: center; align-items: center; padding: 0; } .read-more-background a{ color: #000; } .read-more-btn { padding: 17px 45px; font-family: Inter; font-weight: 700; font-size: 18px; line-height: 16px; text-align: center; vertical-align: middle; border: 1px solid black; background-color: white; } .hidden { display: none; }
function initializeAllSwipers() { // Get all hidden inputs with cms_article_id document.querySelectorAll('[id^="cms_article_id_"]').forEach(function (input) { const cmsArticleId = input.value; const articleSelector = '#article-' + cmsArticleId + ' .body_images'; const swiperElement = document.querySelector(articleSelector); if (swiperElement && !swiperElement.classList.contains('swiper-initialized')) { new Swiper(articleSelector, { loop: true, pagination: false, navigation: { nextEl: '#article-' + cmsArticleId + ' .swiper-button-next', prevEl: '#article-' + cmsArticleId + ' .swiper-button-prev', }, }); } }); } setTimeout(initializeAllSwipers, 3000); const intersectionObserver = new IntersectionObserver( (entries) => { entries.forEach((entry) => { if (entry.isIntersecting) { const newUrl = entry.target.getAttribute("data-url"); if (newUrl) { history.pushState(null, null, newUrl); let article = entry.target; // Extract metadata const author = article.querySelector('.author-section').textContent.replace('By', '').trim(); const section = article.querySelector('.section-info ').textContent.replace(' ', ' '); const title = article.querySelector('.article-title h1').textContent; // Parse URL for Chartbeat path format const parsedUrl = new URL(newUrl, window.location.origin); const cleanUrl = parsedUrl.host + parsedUrl.pathname; // Update Chartbeat configuration if (typeof window._sf_async_config !== 'undefined') { window._sf_async_config.path = cleanUrl; window._sf_async_config.sections = section; window._sf_async_config.authors = author; } // Track virtual page view with Chartbeat if (typeof pSUPERFLY !== 'undefined' && typeof pSUPERFLY.virtualPage === 'function') { try { pSUPERFLY.virtualPage({ path: cleanUrl, title: title, sections: section, authors: author }); } catch (error) { console.error('ping error', error); } } // Optional: Update document title if (title && title !== document.title) { document.title = title; } } } }); }, { threshold: 0.1 } ); function showArticleBody(button) { const article = button.closest("article"); const summary = article.querySelector(".article-body-summary"); const body = article.querySelector(".article-body-preview"); const readMoreSection = article.querySelector(".read-more-background"); // Hide summary and read-more section summary.style.display = "none"; readMoreSection.style.display = "none"; // Show the full article body body.classList.remove("hidden"); } document.addEventListener("DOMContentLoaded", () => { let loadCount = 0; // Track how many times articles are loaded const offset = [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10]; // Offset values const currentUrl = window.location.pathname.substring(1); let isLoading = false; // Prevent multiple calls if (!currentUrl) { console.log("Current URL is invalid."); return; } const sentinel = document.getElementById("load-more-sentinel"); if (!sentinel) { console.log("Sentinel element not found."); return; } function isSentinelVisible() { const rect = sentinel.getBoundingClientRect(); return ( rect.top < window.innerHeight && rect.bottom >= 0 ); } function onScroll() { if (isLoading) return; if (isSentinelVisible()) { if (loadCount >= offset.length) { console.log("Maximum load attempts reached."); window.removeEventListener("scroll", onScroll); return; } isLoading = true; const currentOffset = offset[loadCount]; window.loadMoreItems().then(() => { let article = document.querySelector('#widget_1690 > div:nth-last-of-type(2) article'); intersectionObserver.observe(article) loadCount++; }).catch(error => { console.error("Error loading more items:", error); }).finally(() => { isLoading = false; }); } } window.addEventListener("scroll", onScroll); });
Join Our Newsletters

Sign up by email to receive news.

© 2025 Manila Bulletin The Nation's Leading Newspaper. All Rights Reserved.