FROM THE FRINGES: The LRT-1 Cavite Extension project is for the people

FROM THE FRINGES: The LRT-1 Cavite Extension project is for the people

By Jerome Aning | August 21, 2026

The Department of Transportation (DOTr) earlier this month secured an agreement that would pave the way for the construction of the Las Piñas station of the LRT-1 Cavite Extension project. In the previous weeks, the delay in the construction, attributed to unresolved right of way (ROW) and alignment issues, has, unfortunately, became politicized and even spilled into social media with the camps of the Villar family and Las Piñas City Rep. Mark Anthony Santos arguing and trading barbs over who is to blame.

Thankfully, the intervention of the DOTr brought from the fringes the real, intended beneficiaries of the project: the riding public and the commuters of Las Piñas City and Cavite. The LRT-1 Cavite Extension, being a mass or public transportation project, is primarily for the people, not the landowners and developers, and certainly not the politicians.

Last Aug. 7, DOTr officials led by Secretary Giovanni “Banoy” Lopez and Light Rail Manila Corp. president and chief executive officer Enrico Benipayo met with representatives of the Villar Group of Companies who reportedly agreed to the department’s three non-negotiable terms for the donation of the land, namely, the granting of an unconditional permit to enter, the waiver of subrogation against the government, and the cancellation of the mortgage on the property to be donated.

“This development is good for DOTr, LRMC, LRTA (Light Rail Transit Authority) and the Villar Group, but best for the commuting public. With our agreement, its really the commuters who will benefit, and that really should be our priority,” Lopez said in a statement on the DOTr Facebook page.

“The DOTr thanks the Villar Group of Companies for its cooperation in speeding up this process. Our President has always instructed us that the commuters should benefit from our transport projects in the soonest possible time and to resolve what needs to be fixed,” he added.

Last month, Lopez warned that the construction of the Las Piñas station along the C-5 Road extension would be skipped if the Villar Group rejected the government’s terms.

For his part, Benipayo said the completion of the extension would “really provide a huge, huge relief” from commuters coming from southern Metro Manila and Cavite.  “I see that there’s this urgency from the government to provide relief for the passengers and on the part of the Villars, I think there’s a good sign that they’re talking to the grantors in good faith. So with this milestone I think a major hurdle has been [surpassed],” he said.

The Cavite extension is a project of LRMC, a consortium of companies that currently operates LRT Line 1. The LRTA, a government-owned corporation, acts as the regulator, having been established in 1980 with the primary responsibility for the construction, operation, maintenance and/or lease of light rail transit systems in the Philippines. Construction work for the extension began in 2019, and first phase was completed in 2024 with the opening of five new stations in Parañaque City. The second and third phases, involving two stations in Las Piñas and one and two more in Bacoor City, are supposed to be completed by 2031.

According to the DOTr, two of the six parcels of land to be donated by the Villar Group are mortgaged. The Villar Group said the cancellation of the mortgaged properties will be processed within the next six months, adding that the replacement lots for the two mortgaged parcels have already been identified in order to facilitate the donation. The group also expressed confidence that the necessary agreements for the land donation including the memorandum of agreement, ROW acquisition agreement, and deed of donation will be signed within this month, paving the way for construction works to commence as early as next year.

In my coverage of the land transportation beat as a newspaper reporter, my primary focus was the riding public, the commuters, and the passengers. They are the workers, students, civil servants, shoppers, and tourists who ride jeepneys, buses, and trains or use transport network vehicle services (TNVS) as they contribute to the country’s economy. They, however, are prone to suffering from traffic congestion and other failures of our mass transport system. My secondary focuses are the transport sector—the drivers, operators and employees of transportation companies—and the private motorists. In recent years, concerns about safer, more humane, and more inclusive public transportation in the Philippines, spearheaded by groups such as the Move As One Coalition, have also become newsworthy items. Being a commuter myself, I found it unpleasant when government agencies and private stakeholders forget the plight of the riding public when they enact and implement policies and programs.

As a longtime resident of Las Piñas, I was dismayed reading on social media the politicized blame game that served only vested interests, especially since the problems supposedly hounding the delay were not insurmountable at all. With the ROW issue, for instance, the government, if it wanted to, could easily exercise its power of eminent domain and expropriate the lots needed for the project, regardless whether those lots are mortgaged or not. As it is, the Villar Group has already announced that are ready to donate the parcels of land needed for the project.

Then there were the absurd calls for the demolition of the flyover at the intersection of the Circumferential Road 5 (C-5) Extension and P. Diego Cera Avenue after the structure got blamed as another cause of the delay. Residents living near the area like me regard the flyover as a useful structure as it eases the traffic congestion on the intersection and provides a flood-free connection to and from Coastal Road or CAVITEX (Manila–Cavite Expressway) and Dr. A. Santos Avenue (formerly Sucat Road). The intersection is quite near the Las Piñas River and a small tributary (which I only recently learned has a name—Dahlig Creek), both of which usually overflow during above-normal rainfall or when flood-control programs are neglected.

The Office of the Ombudsman also added to the controversy by announcing that it would investigate claims by the Santos camp that Senators Mark Villar and Camille Villar interfered with the alignment plans involving another station to be constructed in Bacoor City, Cavite. This was vehemently denied by the two senators and Lopez later even clarified that there were no ROW issues since the Villar Group had wanted to donate the lots all along.

I’m sure that the Villar Group and other owners and developers of properties straddling the last segments and final stations of the LRT-1 extension already have plans in place if and when the project is finally completed in five years. Officials of the local governments of Las Piñas and Bacoor, including their congressmen, should already be busying themselves in formulating and later implementing sound urban planning policies, in consultation with all stakeholders, for the proper development of the areas near the stations.

For the Las Piñas station, certain infrastructure should be in place to ensure hassle-free train commuting. I observed that sidewalks of Padre Diego Cera and F. Santos (Tramo) Street leading to and from the future station are either too narrow or obstructed in some segments. Road widening could be considered although this would lead to the dislocation of homes and businesses. Constructing covered walkways and footbridges might be necessary while the opening more alternate routes would be of great help in mitigating traffic congestion and attracting more visitors. The Las Piñas station will be very near to three of the city’s prominent tourist attractions: the St. Joseph Parish Church that houses the world-renowned Bamboo Organ; the Sarao Motors factory, considered the birthplace of the iconic Philippine jeepney; and the Las Piñas-Parañaque Wetland Park, a favorite of birdwatchers and ecotourists. The tree-lined C-5 Road Extension is also frequented by joggers and bikers.

It was only in recent years that infrastructure projects for southern Metro Manila, Cavite and Southern Tagalog provinces started to be translated from the drawing boards to the real world. Projects such as the CAVITEX, the Cavite-Laguna Expressway (CALAX), the Circumferential Road 6, the Parañaque and Taguig Integrated Terminal Exchange landports, the Metro Manila Subway, the North-South Commuter Railway, and the LRT-1 Cavite Extension, among others, are expected to not only speed up travel, but, in the long-run spur local economic development as raw materials and products could now reach local destinations faster and more people do not have to go to Metro Manila just to find work. No longer will the cities of the southern Greater Manila Area be “bedroom cities”, as one mayor described them. There is also the expectation that less people will use cars, thus reducing traffic and greenhouse gases. Thanks to the Internet, everyone has heard of or read the famous quote from Enrique Peñalosa, former mayor of Bogota, Colombia and later board president of the New York City-based Institute for Transportation & Development Policy. He said, “An advanced city is not one where the poor can get around by car, but one where even the rich use public transportation.”

In the Philippines, where most cannot afford cars, commuting will continue to be a way of life and work for many, especially with the continuing urbanization. I can only hope that government policies and projects related to mass transportation and supporting infrastructure will always regard as supreme the interests and welfare of the commuting public for the years to come.

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