P70-B Cavite rail deal assailed at SC

A case has been filed at the Supreme Court seeking to stop the implementation of a P70-billion contract for the Cavite Extension (Cavitex) project between the government and private firm Light Rail Manila Corp. (LRMC) in October last year.

In a petition at the high court, lawyer Salvador Belaro Jr., dean of St. Dominic Savio College of Law, sought a temporary restraining order against the contract, which the petition described as “most one-sided.”

The petition said the contract virtually gives LRMC a franchise which only Congress is empowered to grant.

Negotiations for the deal had been conducted in secret, the petition added.

Cavitex seeks to extend the operations of LRT 1 from Baclaran in Pasay City to Bacoor town in Cavite. It includes a satellite depot at the end of the Cavite extension.

Under the contract, the Light Rail Transit Authority and Department of Transportation and Communications award LRMC the exclusive right, valid for 32 years and extendable up to 50 years, to operate the existing LRT 1, supervision over a common station and be entitled to all income from future development of land covered by the project.

In exchange, LRMC would build the infrastructure and facilities for the Cavitex.

The petition filed at the high court said upon the effectivity of the contract, LRMC would enjoy LRT 1’s daily income of P7 million, or P2.5 billion a year.

It said that the contract is so one-sided in favor of the private firm that “in the final analysis, the concessionaire did not pay anything for this project.”

“On the other hand, the government, pursuant to the financial package under the concession agreement stands to derive no income,” said the petition.

“In effect, the government stands to shoulder all the burden just to make the project a reality, making it the most one-sided contract of all time,” said lawyer Belaro in the petition.