Light Rail, Heavy Toll: Cost Politics in the Planning, Construction, and Operation of Manila’s LRT-1, 1977–1987

CARLOS JOAQUIN R. TABALON

Ahead of Print • Volume 40 (2025)

ABSTRACT

Contrary to what observers see as a deficiency nowadays, there was a time when critics viewed the prospect of introducing rail-based mass transit in Metro Manila as a luxury. This was during the introduction of Line 1 of the Metro Manila’s Light Rail Transit System, popularly referred to as LRT-1, Southeast Asia’s first rapid transit line. While there are already works that discuss the history of Metro Manila’s rail-based mass transit during the Marcos Sr. years, absent among extant works were the voices critical of the introduction of a new, costly transport mode, and how such views clashed with the perspective of its proponents in an authoritarian context wherein voicing out against regime-sponsored megaprojects is often constrained. Through an analysis of sources produced when the LRT-1 was still being planned, constructed, and newly opened, this paper seeks to explain the proponents’ enthusiasm and the opponents’ criticism of the new rapid transit line. LRT-1 proponents justified the project as a worthy investment to address Metro Manila’s dire traffic congestion; for them to earn financial and political capital. On the other hand, LRT-1 opponents flagged the project’s opaque planning process and its costs, which they saw as unreasonable especially given the economic crisis that gripped the country in the 1980s.

KEYWORDS

light rail · Metro Manila · Marcos dictatorship history · railway history · cost politics