ROW for metro subway 90 percent cleared at end-2025

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January 10, 2026 | 12:00am

MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Transportation (DOTr) has secured 90 percent of the right of way or ROW for the Metro Manila Subway Project (MMSP) as of the end of 2025, picking up the slack for a railway that is now behind by years.

Based on its year-end report, the DOTr has acquired 90.76 percent of ROW for the subway as of 2025, with properties cleared in business districts and exclusive villages.

Prior to leadership changes in the DOTr in February 2025, the agency had cleared just 51 percent of ROW for the MMSP, with backlogs piling up primarily in Ortigas.

Since then, the DOTr has sped up its ROW acquisition in major bottlenecks, including the Varilla Properties. Afterward, the agency addressed ROW issues in Ortigas, resolving land and valuation conflicts in Corinthian Gardens, Metrowalk and White Plains.

Given this, acting Transportation Secretary Giovanni Lopez views 2025 as a banner year for the DOTr in ROW procurement. He said it would benefit commuters the most if ROW problems in the MMSP and the North-South Commuter Railway (NSCR) are settled.

“In 2025, it really was a banner year for ROW efforts because we accelerated land acquisition, so that commuters can use the subway and the NSCR as soon as possible,” Lopez said.

Further, the DOTr made progress in ROW acquisition for the northern line of the NSCR, ending 2025 with about 56 percent of the alignment cleared.

In February 2025, the DOTr secured only two percent of the land for the northern segment of the NSCR, with the number of acquired properties climbing to 1,143 parcels in December 2025, from 38 prior.

Lopez said the DOTr is scheduled to complete ROW for NSCR’s northern end by mid-2026. It is also working on ROW procurement for NSCR’s southern curve, with land cleared for four of the 19 stations, namely, in EDSA; Cabuyao and Sta. Rosa, Laguna; and for the depot.

The MMSP, costing P488.5 billion and co-financed by Japan, is the country’s first underground railway, running for 33 kilometers between Valenzuela City and the Ninoy Aquino International Airport. It will bring down travel time from point to point to just 35 minutes.

Originally, the DOTr had aimed to complete the MMSP by 2029, but had to move the deadline to as far as 2032 on delays in ROW acquisition.

The NSCR, the country’s largest infrastructure investment worth P873.6 billion, will stretch for 147 kilometers across three regions, with ridership estimated at around 800,000 passengers daily.