"FIRST things first. Bigger ones first."

This was the call of Sen. Joker Arroyo on Friday as he vowed to block any new Senate investigation on the overpriced Southrail project until the chamber puts closure to its earlier probe on the anomalous $500-million Northrail project.

Sen. Panfilo Lacson is asking the Senate to investigate the alleged $70-million overprice of the Southrail project claimed by witness Rodolfo Noel Lozada Jr. during the Senate hearings on the national broadband network-ZTE deal. Lozada told the Senate that some Palace officials benefited from the said $70 million Southrail overprice.

Arroyo said the Senate should first release its conclusions in the Northrail probe which was conducted with the Senate convening itself into a Committee of the Whole under former Senate President Franklin Drilon. "The Northrail (probe), which had already (been) completed and all that remains is to make the committee report. Otherwise, this will be one of those investigations without a committee report," Arroyo said.

"The $500 million Northrail project is seven times more than the $70 million Southrail project," he said. "The $500 million Northrail project is worth P20 billion. It involves 38 kilometers, from Caloocan to Malolos. In round figures, the government will spend an astronomic P500 million for each kilometer!" Arroyo said.

Sen. Juan Ponce Enrile called for the investigation of the Northrail project linking former Speaker Jose de Venecia to the Chinese-funded project.

Northrail was initially investigated by the Senate committee on housing chaired by Sen. Rodolfo Biazon. The probe was later turned over to Arroyo’s blue ribbon committee and then taken over by the Committee of the Whole under Drilon because of the amount involved.

At present, the government is seeking to expedite the completion of eight priority railway projects, most of which involve the interconnection, improvement, upgrading and extension of the existing Light Rail Transit system, the Metro Rail Transit system, and the Northrail and Southrail systems.

The Philippine National Railway (PNR) said the Southrail project will be implemented in two phases, with the first phase involving the rehabilitation and reconstruction of the existing 423-km PNR railway line from Calamba, Laguna to Legazpi City, Albay. The second phase will construct a new 135-km railway from Comun, Camalig, Albay to Matnog, Sorsogon.

The PNR said the estimated total cost of the Southrail project is $932.037 million, $627.811 for Phase 1 and $304.226 million for Phase 2.

PNR also said 95 percent of the project cost, or $885.435 million, will be funded through a loan from the Export-Import Bank of China. – Dennis Gadil