ANGELES CITY – “Yet another red herring to take Clark out of the development grid.”
Thus the Pinoy Gumising Ka Movement (PGKM) called the statement of an official of the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) that the proposed Metro Manila-Clark high-speed train would not be feasible due to its high cost.
Red herring is an idiom for something intended to distract or mislead. Dr. Shizuo Iwata, reputedly a project manager of JICA, was reported in the media as saying the estimated price of “$7 billion for a bullet train” to link the capital to Clark would be “very expensive.”
“I don’t suggest it. That should be discussed very intensely,” quoted media of Iwata, who was also identified as chair of Japan’s Almec Corp. and part of the group that crafted a P2.6-trillion plan to decongest Metro Manila through 2030.
Earlier, President Aquino was reported to have instructed the Department of Transportation and Communication to undertake a feasibility study on a “high speed railway” connecting Clark to Metro Manila.
No shinkansen
It was clearly a highspeed train, not Japan’s shinkansen or bullet train, that the President referred to,” Ruperto Cruz, chair of PGKM, noted. “To pop up the bullet train here is clearly misleading or even deceiving.”
Cruz clarified: “Everyone knows that a bullet train – at its reported speed of 250 to 300 kilometers per hour – is not feasible between Clark and Manila, a distance of only 80 kilometers.” “At that speed, there will be Typhoon Yolanda- like destruction of houses along the railroad,” he added.
Cruz also questioned the “propriety” of JICA’s “ready dismissal” of the proposed high-speed railway at Clark, given that the agency is pushing for Sangley Point in Cavite at a cost of P435.9 billion as eventual replacement of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport by 2025.
“JICA of course is protecting its interest over Sangley, and therefore it is imperative for it to downgrade Clark which has always been considered as the better alternative to NAIA,” Cruz said. Cruz raised anew the “conspiracy to sabotage” the development of Clark as premier international gateway, with JICA “in the service of the Imperial Manila dragons.”
“At one time, JICA itself conducted a study that showed the viability of Clark as premier international gateway. A direct contradiction to what JICA now says of Sangley, Cruz said. “What is JICA really up to?”
Not as expensive
Cruz likewise took exception to Iwata’s claim that the Metro Manila- Clark high-speed train would be “very expensive.”
“It would not be as expensive, or even half as expensive, as the P435.9-billion development of Sangley,” Cruz said, noting that “only the railway is the missing link in the full development of Clark as international gateway.”
“Also, there is MVP ((business mogul Manny V. Pangilinan) who has long expressed his interest in putting up a high-speed railway system along the North Luzon Expressway, if only the government makes a definitive policy statement on the development of Clark,” Cruz said.
