President Ferdinand Marcos led the inauguration of the first five stations of the Light Rail Transit Line 1 (LRT-1) Cavite Extension Project Phase 1 held at Paranaque City on Friday.

Marcos was joined by Transportation Secretary Jaime Bautista and the Light Rail Manila Corporation (LRMC).

In his speech, Marcos said "commuters will experience a reduction in their travel time, allowing them to spend more time with their loved ones".

Marcos said he wishes to see the remaining three stations which would reach Bacoor, Cavite in this Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) funded project. The total cost is P64.9 billion, out of which P17.8 billion will come from JICA. LRMC will fund P39.7 billion and P7.55 billion will come from the Philippine government.

Minister for Economic Affairs of the Embassy of Japan in the Philippines Daisuke Nihei reaffirmed Japan's support to the Philippines' infrastructure "under the Build, Better, More program through Official Development Assistance (ODA)".

"With the technical expertise of our contractors and Japan’s advanced rail technology, I am confident in the success of this cooperative infrastructure project that will benefit millions of Filipinos", Nihei added.

The LRT-1 Cavite Extension Project Phase 1 will begin commercial operations on Saturday. It is expected to reduce travel time from Paranaque City to Quezon City by almost an hour while 80,000 passengers will be added to the daily ridership of 323 thousand.

The five added stations are Redemptorist-ASEANA, MIA Road, Paranaque Integrated Terminal Exchange (PITX), Ninoy Aquino Avenue, and Dr. Santos (formerly Sucat). Marie Manalili/DMS