Benar News published the following article about the Mindanao Railway.

It presented the human side the railway, particularly the struggles of Affected Persons (AP) facing right-of-way issues. Many of the laments raised actually lined up with what Affected Persons (AP) have been sharing with the Mindanao Railway Watchers community for a number of years.

People had taken on loans to acquire the necessary papers that were required for proof of ownership. The following is a photograph of the standard checklist given to APs.

 

APs were now living in houses that couldn't be repaired because their Notices of Taking (NOT) forbade them from making changes to their structures. The stories shared in article about the resulting adverse living conditions that affected residents now faced mirrored the complaints posted on the community Facebook page.

 

 The DOTr clearly have lessons that need to be learned from Phase 1 to avoid repeats in future phases.

However, the article did not present the complete state of affairs. It failed to show what had actually already been done. The DOTr presented the following list to the MindaRW community earlier this month. Painfully slow . . . but not completely "zero" progress.

 

When ask to comment about the article, the Mindanao Railway Project office issued the following response.