DOTr, housing agencies agree to move 100K families along PNR

 By Aerol John Pateña 

MANILA -- The Department of Transportation (DOTr) has inked an agreement with concerned housing agencies on the relocation of around 100,000 informal settler families (ISFs) that will be affected by the construction of the North-South Railway Project (NSRP) next year.

Transportation Secretary Arthur Tugade and officials of the Philippine National Railways (PNR) signed the Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) Friday with Presidential Commission on Urban Poor Chairperson, James Mark Terry Ridon; National Housing Authority General Manager Marcelino Escalada Jr.; Social Housing Finance Corporation president Arnolfo Ricardo Cabling; and Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council Chairman Eduardo del Rosario.

The MOA will enable government agencies to provide affordable housing assistance for ISFs that will be relocated due to the construction of the railway project.

“Talaga pong kinakailangang ma-relocate ang ating mga kababayan na nakatira malapit sa riles, para sa kanilang kaligtasan (We really need to relocate the informal settlers living near the railways for their safety),” PNR Chairman Roberto Lastimoso said.

“Ang MOA signing po na ito ay isang patunay na ang mga ahensya ng pamahalaan ay nagtutulung-tulong para sa pagsasakatuparan ng mga pangako ng administrasyon (This MOA signing is a proof that the government agencies are united in fulfilling the promise of the administration), Tugade said.

For his part, Cabiling said, “We assure you that the houses that we will provide for the affected ISFs are livable, affordable, and inclusive.”

NSRP, also known as the PNR South Long Haul, is a 653-kilometer railway project that will run from Manila to Batangas, Laguna, Bicol, and Sorsogon.

The rail line is expected to reduce travel time from Manila to Laguna from two and a half hours to 45 minutes, while travel time from Manila to the Bicol region will be cut in half from 12 hours to 6 hours.

Construction of the PNR South Long Haul is set to start in 2018 and the railway is expected to be operational by the second quarter of 2022.

The railroad's Commuter Line segment will start from Solis-Hermosa in Manila to Los Baños, Laguna.

Meanwhile, the Long Haul segment will start from Los Banos and will run through Batangas, Quezon, and the Bicol provinces of Camarines Sur and Albay to Sorsogon. (PNA)

LTO to start issuing license plates in March 2018

By Aerol John Pateña 

MANILA -- The Land Transportation Office (LTO) will start issuing license plates by March next year, assuring motorists it will proceed with the procurement in accordance with the law.

In a statement Thursday, the LTO said it has issued a notice of award to the winning bidder in the procurement of license plates worth PHP978.8 million last December 1.

The winning bidder Trojan Computer Forms Manufacturing Corporation and J.H. Tonnjes E.A.S.T. GmbH & Co. KG Joint Venture will provide the performance security with the initial delivery of license plates scheduled sometime in March 2018.

“The LTO assures the public that the agency is doing the best it can, in compliance with existing laws and regulations, to deliver the license plates,” LTO chief and Department of Transportation Assistant Secretary Edgar Galvante said in a statement.

The delay in the issuance of license plates was caused by the temporary restraining order of the Supreme Court (SC) in June 2016 preventing the LTO and then Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC)  from distributing 700,000 license plates turned over by the Bureau of Customs after the plates' supplier-importer failed to pay the required customs duties.

The 2013 procurement of motor vehicle (MV)/ motorcycle (MC) plates, which covers the supply of license plates from ‎2014-2018, was questioned before the courts and the Commission on Audit which remains pending to date.

“Thus, when the present administration came in July 2016, there was no budget allocation for procurement of license plates for 2016, 2017 and 2018. Unconvinced that the procurement of license plates is dependent on the resolution of the cases involving the previous procurement, Asec. Galvante then requested for additional funds to be included in the LTO’s 2017 budget in the amount of PHP 400 million in order to proceed with the procurement of license plates,” the LTO said.

Department of Transportation (DOTr) Secretary Arthur Tugade approved the request and allocated PHP1 billion from the department’s budget for LTO’s procurement of license plates in November last year.

House Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez on Wednesday urged Galvante to resign over the agency's failure to release new license plates with an estimated backlog reaching 6 million. (PNA)