Republic of the Philippines HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES Quezon City SIXTEENTH CONGRESS “Third Regular Session HOUSE RESOLUTION No__2313 Introduced by BAYAN MUNA Representatives ‘ERI J. COLMENARES and CARLOS ISAGANI T. ZARATE RESOLUTION DIRECTING THE COMMITTEE ON METRO MANILA DEVELOPMENT TO CONDUCT AN INQUIRY, IN AID OF LEGISLATION, ON THE HIGHLY STRANGE, AND ANOMALOUS DECISION OF THE DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION AND COMMUNICATIONS (DOTC) TO SCRAP THE ORIGINAL TRI-STATION, PROJECT OR THE METRO MANILA INTEGRATED RAIL TERMINAL (MMIRT) IN EXCHANGE FOR A BI-STATION SCHEME TO BE LOCATED IN FRONT OF ‘TRINOMA MALL WHEREAS, the original plan was to build a tri-station or the Metro Manila Integrated Rail ‘Terminal (MMIRT) intended to be a central station or terminal that provides easy passenger transfer among MRT 3, LRT 1 and MRT 7 lines. The central station was planned to be located in Barangay Santo Cristo (Bago Bantay) in Quezon City which is at the comer of Epifanio de los Santos ‘Avenue (EDSA) and North Avenue. The tri-station was initially bundled in the MRT 7 concession agreement and was originally planned to be built in front of SM North EDSA. WHEREAS, a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) was crafted between the DOTG, the Light Rail ‘Transit Authority (LRTA) and the SM Prime Holdings (SMPHI) to build the original tri-station in fant of SM Nosth EDSA, with SM getting the naming rights for the same; WHEREAS, in a very strange and suspicious move, DOTC transferred the location of the proposed tri-station to Tsinoma, and bundled the project as part of the PHP 64 billion LRT Line 1 Cavite Extension. This was during the time when the Light Rail Manila Corporation (LRMC) was the lone bidder for both the first and second bidding of the LRT extension PPP project. Ayala, Inc, which owns the Trinoma Mall, was part of the LRMC consortium along with Metro Pacific Light Rail Corporation and Macquarie Infrastructure Holdings; WHEREAS, the transfer seems to be a favor given by DOTC to the LRMC for the LRT 1 Cavite Extension, Operations and Maintenance Concession Agreement. The Trinoma bi-station in the LRT 1 Cavite Extension, Operations and Maintenance Concession Agreement is packaged as a design- and-build program so the national government will be the one paying for the construction, but the concessionaire (Ayala and MPIC) will be the one who is in charge with the enhancement, operations and maintenance of the common station;WHEREAS, the Trinoma proposal is merely a “bi-station” for MRT 3 and LRT 1, and passengers will need to painstakingly traverse six-hundred (600) meters to connect to MRT 7. The claim by DOTC that the Trinoma station was chosen because it will cost less is immediately questionable because the Trinoma station is not a tx-station; WHEREAS, the Supreme Court has issued a Temporary Restraining Order (TRO) on the transfer to Tsinoma when DOTC and the LRTA violated an earlier Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) dated September 28, 2009 with SMPHI, effectively putting the project to hold; WHEREAS, many have assailed the transfer since the original design of the tri-station is more efficient because it neatly connects the thrce lines in one place, while the Trinoma bi-station only connects two lines, with the commuters, including persons-with-disebilities (PWDs and senior citizens, bear the burden of walking more than half a kilometer, just to transfer from one system to another. The original plan also took into consideration the Department of Public Works and Highways’ (DPWH) EDSA/North, West and Mindanao Avenues Interchange; WHEREAS, to appease SMPHI, DOTC is currently planning to put up two (2) common stations, one located in Teinoma and another to the original location in SM; WHEREAS, DOTC’s claim that the currently proposed bi-station is less costly compared to the ofiginal plan appears to be a gross misrepresentation of facts, if not outright deception, considering the following: 1. The tri-station is naturally costly, considering the needed construction configurations for the tri-station; but it is way more cost-efficient compared to DOTC’s current plan of putting up two (2) common stations to address the defects and limitations of the bi-stations 2. Lower construction cost of the bi-station was due to changes, proposed by the Government, from structural steel frames to reinforced concrete frames and above- platform concourse level to single-level station. The use of steel frames is more beneficial because steel framing reduces the time to construct the t-station, resulting to less traffic congestion. Likewise steel frames offers design flexibility and sustainability compared to concrete; 3. Currently, the construction of the Trinoma bi-station, and another SM bi-station, together with the construction of the walkway, the additional traffic it will cause, will surely make the Trinoma proposal a lot disadvantageous to the Government and the siding public; WHEREAS, it appears that DOTC’s tzansfer would only benefit the Ayalas. In fact, DOTC identified the bi-station as a complement with the Ayala Corp's North Triangle Development Plan, creating a commercial business district in the North Triangle. This bias towards the Ayalas is emphasized by the fact that DOTC did not even consider in its ridership study for the common station the possible decrease of ridership due to the inconvenience of having to transfer from the MRT 7 to the Tsinoma bi-station;WHEREAS, should the proposed two common stations be put into effect, the commuters would have to endure the same experience in the LRT 2 ~ MRT 3 intersection, whereby commuters have to painstakingly walk and transfer from two different terminals from Farmer’s Market (MRT 3's location) to the Gateway Mall (LRT 2 terminal location). Then DOTC Secretary Mar Roxas, instead of building a central station in Cubao, opted and approved for the construction of two different terminals, instead of one bi-station, to the detriment of commuters. Now, instead of an easy transfer in the Cubao and Aurora Boulevard intersection, commuters have to walk neatly half a kilometer through Gateway Mall from Farmer's Market, and vice-versa; WHEREAS, the current proposed set-up of building two common stations, aimed merely to appease SMPHI in the end forced DOTC to spend more than it intended for the said project, ironically contravening its repeated pronouncements that the transfer to Trinoma is justifiable due to cost-efficiency. With the delay caused by legal actions resulting from the transfer, the suspicious change of mind of DOTC will now be very expensive and inconvenient to the Filipino people; WHEREAS, DOTC should primasily prioritize the interest of the commuting public, instead of the interest of private coxporations; NOW THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED THAT, the Committe on Metro Manila Development conduct an inquiry, in aid of legislation, on the the highly strange and anomalous decision of the Depactment Of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) conceming the MRT/LRT Common Station. Ado per Cantos Sant T. ZARATE Bayan Muna Pary list