If government is keen in infusing P150 billion in additional capital in the Central Bank, then why can’t it spend a fraction of that amount in reviving the Pasig River ferry and improving train service in Metro Manila?

Senate President Pro Tempore Ralph Recto pointed this out as he pressed the government “to give the same attention it is giving to expressways to cheaper but neglected modes of mass transportation.”

“There seems to be an official fixation with roads but an allergy to ferries and rail,” Recto said.

Recto said this “skewed prioritization” can be seen in the national budget “where the annual subsidy of P344 million for the Philippine National Railways, which carries 25 million passengers a year, is equivalent to the budget for a 17-kilometer road concreting project in one town in the Visayas.”

Recto said PNR’s charter, Republic Act 4126, is set to expire in three months, on June 20, “yet there is no move on the part of the executive to seek its extension.”

“If its charter is not extended, then it says there in RA 4126, that the PNR must wind down its operations in three years, prepare for dissolution and dispose its properties,” Recto said.

“Once PNR’s charter expires, then the process of demobilization begins,” Recto said. “If you read Section 16 of RA 4126, it states there that its disposal of properties shall not be for the purpose of continuing the business for which it was established.”

Recto said the dismantling of PNR will mean that “the real estate it owns which is valued in the billions of pesos “can be the subject of a “bidding war by real estate companies.”

“If you recall, even the space above the tracks are worth billions of pesos in so-called air rights. You can build a road above the tracks provided you buy that space from PNR. While it may be poor in rolling stock, PNR is a Colossus when it comes to land holdings,” Recto said.

He urged the Palace to send to Congress a bill extending PNR’s corporate life “and use its majority clout in both houses to okay it before Congress goes on recess in the second week of June.”

“We need to fast-track it. We cannot allow the dissolution train to leave the station. If there’s one bill that must be railroaded, then this is the one.”

Recto said PNR ‘s least priority status is also evident in the Pasig River ferry service.

“Its revival has yet to receive official blessings despite its feasibility as an alternative mode of transportation in traffic-choked Metro Manila,” the senator said.

While commending MMDA’s “bold and creative move” to unveil its version of the ferry the other day, Recto said it needs more than the trial runs of prototypes to get the ferry back in service.

“What is needed is an unequivocal policy statement, which would include funding commitments for the ferry’s revival and expansion. Even for so-called ‘signaling’ purposes, that would be enough in jumpstarting things.”

As Metro Manila girds for traffic with the simultaneous implementation of 17 road projects, Recto has been batting for the tapping of underutilized mass transport systems, like the PNR and the mothballed Pasig River ferry, to ease the commuting woes of the metropolis’ 13 million residents.

He earlier said that doubling the number of PNR trains plying the 44-kilometer Tutuban, Manila- Sta. Rosa Laguna line alone will allow it to ferry 25 million more passengers a year.

As to the Pasig River, Recto said the 25-kilometer waterway is wider and longer than EDSA but is not currently used as a “people mover”.

Recto said the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas has officially asked Congress to amend its charter.

One of the features of the BSP bill is the additional capitalization of P150 billion, payable in three years.

“If we can give just one percent of what BSP is asking to PNR and to the Pasig River ferry, imagine the many things it can do to the residents of Metro Manila,” Recto said.