Critics of Chinese involvement in the Mindanao and Bicol railways have legitimate causes for concern. The Mindanao Railway and the PNR's South Long-Haul are, after all, not the first Chinese railway projects in the Philippines. That distinction goes to an Arroyo-administration project known by it's short name as "Northrail" -- formally known as North Luzon Railways Corp.

NorthRail was a flagship project of the Arroyo administration, tasked with the rehabilitation of a train line connecting Metro Manila to provinces in nothern Luzon. It was envisioned to link Caloocan City with an international airport in the former Clark Airfield in Pampanga via a 80-kilometer railway.

In February 2007, the Monetary Board approved a $500-million long-term loan from China Eximbank that would finance the first section of Phase I of the project. The chosen builder for this project was the China National Machinery Industry Corporation (Sinomach).

But by the time of the approval, however, the project had already been hounded by years of allegations of corruption and overpricing. In March 2010, the Aquino administration suspended the deal pending review of the contract.

China responded to the delay in 2012 by calling off overseas development assistance for the project. This triggered the start of arbitration proceedings between Sinomach and the PH government in the same year. Five-years later, the PH government settled out-of-court with Sinomach to avoid a P5B obligation.

By 2019, the Japanese International Cooperation Agency (JICA) had taken over funding for the project and had started destruction of the already-in-place Chinese support columns in favor of Japanese alternatives. Photo below c/o of the DOTr showing the demolition in progress, in favor of the North-South Commuter Railway.

Geopolitical competition between China and Japan is playing out in infrastructure projects around Asia.