BAM to SC: Stop the LRT 1 Concession Agreement

MANILA, PHILIPPINES – Members of the Bagong Alyansang Makabayan filed a petition before the Supreme Court to stop the implementation of the P65-billion concession agreement for the Cavite Extension project between the Department of Transport and Communications and Light Rail Manila Corp. declaring it as disadvantageous to the public and violating the Constitution.

The Bagong Alyansang Makabayan secretary general Renato M. Reyes Jr., Bayan Muna Rep. Neri Colmenares, commuter group Train Riders Network, Courage president Ferdinand Gaite, Riles convener Sammy Malunes, Light Rail Transit Authority employee Ma. Kristina Cassion and scientists’ group Agham secretary general Feny Cosico, sought an issuance of temporary restraining order to declare the void concession agreement due to its failure in complying the provisions and other existing laws.

“We are filing this petition on behalf of other thousands of daily LRT commuters as well as the Filipino taxpayers who will shoulder the ill-effects of the contract for the next three decades. The contract is loaded with sovereign guarantees that are contrary to law and detrimental to the people. The Aquino government, through the DoTC, negotiated a lopsided contract that will place us deep in debt,” Reyes said in a report by Rey Requjo of The Standard.

According to a report by The Standard, the concession agreement covers the privatization of the operation and maintenance of the current LRT Line 1 as well as the construction and extension of the existing LRT Line 1 from 20.7 kilometers to 32.4 kilometers by providing trains originating from the end of Baclaran, traversing the municipalities of Parañaque and Las Piñas, and ending in Bacoor, Cavite.

The petitioners said that DOTC, LRTC, and LRMC violated the Section 28, Article II of the 1987 Constitution, or giving people the right to information on matters of public concern, and said there are no public consultations conducted prior to the signing of the concession agreement.

Petitioners also noted that the agreement for the project was initially signed in 2013, due to its failures, the negotiations for the LRT constructions were kept from the public.

“It is submitted by the petitioners that it is within the spirit of the people’s constitutional right to information to be apprised of the extent of government undertakings in the concession agreement,” the petition stated.

The petitioners added that public hearings should be conducted before the concession agreement could be fully implemented because the public has the right to be informed of the details in the agreement.