After the Philippines abandoned negotiations with China on loan financing for three major railway construction projects, Philippine Transport Minister Jaime Bautista stated on Monday (November 6) that Japan, South Korea, and India are willing to fund the construction of these three railway projects, totaling $5 billion.
Bautista said in a media forum that the Philippine government may seek official development assistance (ODA) from these three countries, as well as provide funding for some railway projects or seek private sector investment. He stated that the Philippine government is exploring these options and is currently unable to provide details.
Bautista emphasized that he is open to any country that can provide financing for these infrastructure construction projects.
These three railway construction projects are the Mindanao Railway, the Subic Clark Railway, and the South Line Long Distance Railway, with a total funding requirement of 4.95 billion US dollars. They were all initiated by the previous government and were originally planned to be funded and constructed by China. The feasibility and engineering studies of these projects have been completed, leaving only financing and implementation.
Reuters reported that after taking office last year, President Marcos Jr. ordered the renegotiation of loan agreements with China. But China has always been unwilling to agree to the loan terms proposed by the Philippine government. In fact, China has not taken action on formal development assistance requests from the Philippines regarding these projects since July 2022. Therefore, the actual construction of these projects cannot begin.
Philippine Minister of Transportation, Haime Bautista, confirmed later last month that after no progress was made in loan negotiations with China, the Philippines was forced to abandon negotiations with China and instead seek other financing options.
The previous President Duterte, who adopted a pro China and pro US foreign policy, once said that if China could help him build a railway in the south, he would be willing to "shut up" in the South China Sea dispute. These projects have been under negotiation since 2018. However, a few years later, many projects either derailed or were completely unfulfilled.
According to Bloomberg, Philippine Finance Minister Benjamin Diokono also confirmed that the Philippines is seeking financing for these three railway projects from Japan and India. He stated that he expects the loan negotiations to be completed in the first quarter of next year.
Diokner also said that working with multilateral creditors is also an option, possibly a combination of Japan and the Asian Development Bank (ADB). He emphasized that the Philippines is currently exploring all financing options.
In addition, the Times of India reported that the Philippines had given up the financing negotiations with China on three major railway projects, making the Philippines the latest country to break away from China's ambitious "the Belt and Road" initiative, which was another blow to China's so-called "century project" worth one trillion dollars.
  According to the analysis, the progress of the "the Belt and Road" has slowed sharply in recent years under the double attack of the epidemic and China's economic problems, even in name only. China hopes to revitalize the plan by the third "the Belt and Road" International Cooperation Summit Forum held in Beijing from October 17 to 18.
A few days after the summit ended, the Philippines officially announced its abandonment of negotiations with China on loan financing for three major railway construction projects.
Other projects that were originally funded and constructed by China that were shelved by the Philippines include the Chico River Pump Irrigation Project, the New Centennial Water Source Kaliwa Dam Project, the Samar Island Davao City Connector Project, and closed circuit television projects in multiple cities in the Manila metropolitan area.