Presidential candidate Rodrigo Duterte and his running mate Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano also known as the Duterte-Cayetano tandem revived the proposal and wants to prioritize the 200-kilometer Mindanao Railway System. The railway system had been planned to connect Mindanao’s food-producing regions to the country’s markets, such as Manila.
According to Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano who is running for Vice President under Mayor Duterte’s line-up, the railway system would provide low-cost transport system for food and agricultural commodities from Mindanao, which would keep the country’s food prices low and affordable for people in big cities.
The Duterte-Cayetano tandem revealed that one of their top priority once elected into the highest office in the country is the railway system in Mindanao, one of the most neglected group of islands in the Philippines.
During a federalism forum in Kidapawan City, Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano was quoted as saying “Landlocked agricultural areas like North Cotabato, Bukidnon, Agusan and Lanao del Sur with no access to ports or cargo-loading airports will greatly benefit from the Mindanao Railway System,” Cayetano said.
The Vice Presidential bet also added that “The railway system will ensure efficient and low-cost transport of food commodities from agricultural areas like North Cotabato to the ports of Davao, General Santos City or Cagayan de Oro City,” Cayetano told banana farmers.
The proposed Mindanao Railway System had been studied and approved but did not materialize because no funds had been allocated to it by the national government but once the Duterte-Cayetano tandem elected into office, it will become a top priority project of the administration.
