Cagayan de Oro Second District Rep. Rufus Rodriguez has slammed the lack of funding for the Mindanao Railway Project (MRP), particularly the Villanueva, Misamis Oriental-Cagayan de Oro City-Laguindingan, Misamis Oriental phase (Phase II).

“In Luzon, there is a North rail, an East rail, a West rail, and South rail. In Mindanao, not an inch of a rail. Maawa naman kayo,” Rodriguez said during the recent House Committee on Appropriations deliberations for the 2026 budget of the Department of Transportation (DOTr).

Rodriguez called out the zero budget allocation for the MRP in the 2026 National Expenditure Program (NEP) under the Foreign-Assisted Projects fund.

“The total budget for foreign-assisted projects proposed is P122 billion and you cannot even give P5 billion to Mindanao? Unjust and unfair! We cannot continue to have something like this. It’s been 18 years,” Rodriguez said.

“What happens to Mindanao? We are always second-class citizens to imperial Manila! I am constrained to move to defer this budget because it is unfair to the 26 million Mindanaonons who, up to now, have no railway,” he added.

Rodriguez emphasized that Mindanao should not be left behind even as he urged both the DOTr and the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) to ensure appropriations are in place.

In a report by GMA News Online, DOTr said the proposed P197 billion budget for the agency for 2026 does not include allocations for the Mindanao Railway Project.

During the deliberation of the DOTr budget at the Senate, Transportation Assistant Secretary Eduardo Macabulos said the feasibility study of the project is being updated in preparation for the next potential funding.

“Ina-update po ngayon sa kasalukuyan ang feasibility study po ng Mindanao Railway para sa susunod na pagkakataon na merong interested na mag-fund po ng project natin ay updated na po yung feasibility studies,” Macabulos said in reply to the query of Senator Ronald dela Rosa.

Acting Transportation Secretary Giovanni Lopez has recommended allocating funds in the Project Management Office (PMO) for the railway project.

When Senator JV Ejercito asked if allotting budget for the Mindanao Railway Project is recommended, Lopez said, “Tama po kayo (you’re right), at least for the PMO and the right of way.”

In October 2023, then Transportation Secretary Jaime Bautista said the government had already dropped the Chinese official development assistance financing for the Mindanao Railway Project.

The Mindanao railway was originally set to begin construction for its phase 1 or Tagum-Davao-Digos segment in January 2019.

The first phase has a length of 100.2 kilometers with over eight stations and an estimated project cost of P81.6 billion as of 2021.

(With reports from GMA News Online)