Gov’t all set to take over MRT 3

The government is ready to finance the takeover of Metro Rail Transit Line 3, a plan that includes buying out the private sector, according to National Treasurer Rosalia de Leon.

“We already have identified [the funding sources] like the GFIs [government financial institutions],” De Leon said at the sidelines of a seminar organized by Economic Journalists Association of the Philippines.

The government issued Executive Order 26 last January, authorizing the so-called equity buyout of Metro Rail Transit Corp., operator of MRT 3. Metro Rail Transit is controlled by Metro Pacific Investments Corp. led by businessman Manuel V. Pangilinan.

The government, mainly through Land Bank of the Philippines and Development Bank of the Philippines, owns an 80-percent economic interest in Metro Rail Transit Corp., although its voting rights are smaller than those held by the private-sector concessionaire.

“If ever, there are provisions in those terms and conditions of the bonds that we may … invoke eventually to be able to get hold of those bonds,” De Leon said. “We have ways and means [ to buy the bonds].”

She said that the Finance department continues to hold talks with Landbank and DBP. She declined to comment specifically on the timing.

Pangilinan had said earlier that his group would not oppose the government’s plan to buy out Metro Pacific.

Given the way the project is structured, MPIC only holds a fraction of the MRT line’s economic benefits despite owning most of the voting rights in Metro Rail Transit. The MRT, running on Edsa from Taft Avenue to North Avenue, carries 540,000 passengers a day.