The country's two flagship rail projects were supposed to be done by 2028. They are now due in 2032 and 2033, and the latest budget fight suggests the date may slip again.
The House version of the 2027 budget makes a major funding cut to foreign-assisted railway projects, a move that could cost the government billions in commitment fees and penalties and strain ties with Japan, the Daily Tribune's Edjen Oliquino reported on Oct. 13-14. The projects at stake are the Metro Manila Subway Project (MMSP) and the North-South Commuter Railway (NSCR). The Tribune did not report a peso figure for the House cut, and we could not verify one.
What the record shows
At a Senate budget hearing on Sept. 18, the Tribune reported, DOTr said the MMSP is estimated at ₱488.5 billion and the NSCR at ₱873.6 billion, about ₱1.4 trillion combined. Both are financed mainly by loans from the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) and are flagships of the "Build Better More" program.
Marcos originally set both for 2028, the year his term ends. The Tribune reported that the 19th Congress reportedly cut counterpart funding for both in the 2023, 2024 and 2025 General Appropriations Acts to make room for congressional insertions, including flood control projects, with funds reportedly moved to unprogrammed appropriations, which can be used only if revenue surpluses or new foreign loans materialize. The MMSP is now due in 2032 and the NSCR's full operations in 2033, with partial NSCR operations on the Valenzuela-to-Malolos segment expected in December 2027, DOTr Secretary Giovanni Lopez said.
DOTr's warning, and a number to hold onto
Lopez told senators that a funding gap of a year or two would cause delays lasting far longer: "the delay won't just be for a year or two." Halting and restarting would require rehiring workers and remobilizing equipment, effectively starting over, and government would face billions in commitment fees, penalties, and material and labor costs, he said. Asked about where earlier funds went, Lopez said: "We don't want to point fingers at where the funds went." It is a diplomatic answer to a question the public is entitled to have answered plainly.
For 2027, the Tribune reported, DBM's proposal would raise DOTr's budget by ₱163.11 billion, from ₱137.84 billion to ₱300.96 billion, against a ₱624.48-billion request. About ₱195 billion is earmarked for rail versus the ₱529.98 billion DOTr proposed, with ₱67.44 billion for the MMSP and ₱123.84 billion for the NSCR. These are the executive's proposals; the Tribune's account of the House's changes does not give their final amounts.
The Senate's position
Sen. JV Ejercito, the Senate finance chair, said at the September hearing that Japan and JICA had complained directly to Marcos about the delays, and that the Senate would not fund foreign-assisted projects through unprogrammed appropriations. Their budgets, he said, belong in programmed funds because they are priority projects and loans that carry commitment fees. "Obligations are meant to be honored," he said. On Oct. 13, he said the Senate would correct questionable line items and restore funding for key programs that faced cuts.
What is still unknown
The exact size of the House cut, who proposed it, and what it was reallocated to are not stated in the reporting we reviewed, and the report carries no House response. The potential cost of commitment fees and penalties is described only as "billions." Until the House publishes line-item changes and the Senate receives the bill, commuters have a completion date and no funding certainty to go with it.
Context
Commuters are already living with the consequences of thin rail capacity: our earlier report found LRT-2 running 8 of 10 trains, with DOTr proposing buses as the fix and overcrowding expected for at least three more years.
Sources
- Daily Tribune (Edjen Oliquino), "JV backs stronger health, calamity response," Oct. 13-14, 2026 — https://tribune.net.ph/2026/10/13/jv-backs-stronger-health-calamity-response
- Daily Tribune (Edjen Oliquino), "DOTr: Keep rail funds intact to catch up with ASEAN," Sept. 18, 2026 — https://tribune.net.ph/2026/09/18/dotr-keep-rail-funds-intact-to-catch-up-with-asean
