Without much fanfare, Mike Defensor last week inaugurated with the President and other government officials a rehabilitated railway system that promises to decongest the nearly choked up traffic in Metro Manila.

Not even a year after becoming chairman of the Philippine National Railways (PNR) Corporation, Mike has achieved what a succession of former PNR officials have surprisingly failed to do: resuscitate a vital transport system that heretofore was doomed to atrophy its way to our history books.

Indeed, tales about the train’s glory days, when even a Philippine president was able to ride one of its coaches, has entered the anecdotes of a better bygone Manila era, much like a clean Pasig River. But unlike the Pasig River, the rehabilitation of which could take a generation or more, the PNR train system looks more promising.

New air-conditioned coaches are now operating from downtown Manila’s Tutuban in Divisoria to Buendia in Makati City. In a few weeks, operations are set to cover the stretch of Caloocan to Sucat and eventually until Alabang. The PNR has also set its sights on reviving the Manila-Bicol route before yearend.

The resuscitation of the railway system is testament to Mike’s ability to get things done in contrast to accusations of him being a traditional politician. Filipinos should let his actions, more than his image in mainstream media, speak for what kind of leader he really is.

Indeed, unlike other government appointees who mostly only go through the motions of doing their jobs, Mike has been known to take every opportunity of public service to heart. Politics aside, his stint in the government has always been nothing short of commendable, from implementing the total log ban as DENR secretary to finally launching the much delayed opening of the country’s international airport terminal as NAIA 3 task force chief.

Proving his mettle yet again, he has now taken on the reins of PNR as the man with the will to get the derailed transport system back on track. The new railway system has 18 new coaches from Korea, but Mike has commissioned a local jeepney manufacturing company, Santarosa, to refurbish 30 more rusty coaches. This translates to about P2.84 billion in savings! To note, such savings did not come at the expense of the quality of the coaches, the interiors of which can be likened to luxury buses replete with no less than LCD TVs.

To sustain the project, Mike has also reached out to investors like, SM Corp. and S.T. Best Inc. to later take over the train stations and build station malls. Lacosta Development has also been tapped for a fiber-optic project on the right of way of PNR, whereas the Industrial Heritage Society of the Philippines was tasked to build a museum at the old Paco station for extra revenue.

Despite the large investment to salvage the aged railway system, Mike has been keen on making the revived route accessible to the general public. Fares start at P12 and a 30-minute ride from central Manila to the Makati business district only costs P16.

Mike has said the long-term goal is to develop a railway system like in New York and in Rome. And while the this can be easily dismissed as a long-shot, we only have to look at countries in Europe and neighboring Japan, Korea, China, Singapore and even relatively poor ones like India to know the significance of this project to our nation. In all of these countries, a railway system remains the main means of long-distance public land transportation that cuts down on much resources and promotes efficiency. Indeed, Mike sees the PNR being eventually linked to MRT and LRT lines that would make traversing all over the metropolis via commuter trains possible.

Who knows a world class train transport system just might be within our reach?—i.e. if Mike remains in the thick of things.

By F. Bontog, Jr.



Mike Defensor had to make the decision no one could make


During his stint as secretary of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), Mike Defensor got a lot of flak for approving Mineral Production Sharing Agreements (MPSAs) with several mining corporations that were said to have resulted in substantial environmental degradation to the areas in which they worked.

It is great that people cared enough to follow these stories and to take a stand. However, it really is very unfair and counterproductive to put all on the blame on Defensor. Some people have gone so far as to call the man “anti-environment”, but there is much evidence that shows otherwise. And there are reasons behind his decisions, many of which have sadly been overlooked in conventional media.



For one thing, students of governance and politics will know that for productive industry to flourish (and for private-led development to take place), government cannot play too big a hand in the operations of companies working in the country. Idle assets have to be put to productive use, and it is the job of government to find the best uses for these in the project of development. Once it has done that, the country is best served with government stepping back.

Defensor obviously had to make a tough decision, and there obviously were tradeoffs in allowing these mining companies to work in the country. It is tragic that some of these companies might have committed infractions of environmental laws and the guidelines set by the DENR (and the perpetrators will have to be dealt with severely—which Defensor has already done more than once), but if government makes it policy to at the outset block companies from working in the country on the basis of a speculative fear that they might not abide by the rules, then no development could ever take place.

It should be noted that all of the companies with approved mining contracts complied with the DENR’s application requirements and were subjected to a rigid qualification procedure. Since they met the requirements, they were awarded the contracts. And now, the companies will surely be held liable for any infractions they might have committed. But Defensor cannot be held to blame for approving the contracts at the time they were entered, because until then, everything was complied with.

Also, Defensor’s long record of going after violators of DENR guidelines and environmental laws has pointedly been overlooked in conventional media. Remember that it was during Defensor’s stint as DENR chief that the fight against illegal loggers was most successful. It was during his term that many of big-time illegal loggers, many of whom themselves held influential positions in government, were finally charged. Also, it was during Defensor’s term that the total log ban was finally enacted.

It was also during Defensor’s term as DENR secretary that the biggest ever fine for violation of an environmental law was imposed (a P10.7 million fine against the big-time Australian mining firm LaFayette, which was found to have violated the Clean Air Act). If this isn’t a huge statement against violators of environmental law, then I don’t know what is.

What is needed here is balance. Mistakes were certainly made, but it is not as black and white as many people make it out to be. Mining contracts such as those in question and the proper implementation of policy are complicated matters. A more mature view on the matter will be necessary if we are to get to the bottom of these infractions, and this cannot be had if people automatically heap blame on government as it did in the case of Defensor.


The writer is a soil conservationist who worked as Soil Analyst for Sustainable Agriculture Center. He is an environmentalist who lobbied for better mining laws in the country together with Green Initiative Baguio Benguet.