Noted Kagay-anon journalist and Inquirer columnist Antonio Montalvan II in his opinion column Kris-Crossing Mindanao has labeled the government’s proposal of the first Mindanao rail segment from Digos City to Tagum City as not a Mindanao line.
In his recent article entitled “A scaled-down M’danao railroad plan“, he stated that the proposed Digos-Tagum line is a local line that would be best served by a metro Davao MRT System.
He stressed that Davao is not Mindanao’s center and Cagayan de Oro is the island’s transport hub and a vantage point with buses departing daily to all destinations: to Surigao in the east, Zamboanga and Dipolog in the west and all of Southern Mindanao – all directions that can be served by a railway line. This cannot be said of Davao which doesn’t have lines to cities like Iligan, Pagadian, Marawi, Zamboanga, Dipolog, Ozamiz, and Oroquieta.
According to him, the plan approved by the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) last 2015 remains the best practical realization of the Mindanao railway system.
His opinion article basically summarizes a history of the Mindanao railway project which dates back during the Commonwealth government.
Read his full article HERE.