Malacañang: No need for Noy to ride MRT

MANILA, Philippines - Malacañang yesterday dismissed calls for President Aquino to take the Metro Rail Transit challenge, saying he need not ride the MRT to feel or understand the plight of commuters.

Secretary Herminio Coloma Jr. of the Presidential Communications Operations Office appealed for understanding from the public, saying the President is also dealing with far greater problems.

“We should understand that the president is the father of the nation. He is dealing with a lot more problems, day and night,”  Coloma said in Filipino.

He also noted that the President has to take care of the problems of his 25 Cabinet secretaries, making his work 25 times more difficult.

Government officials were asked to take the MRT challenge to understand how commuters feel, especially during rush hours and when the train stalls or conks out.

Coloma said he could also take the MRT challenge anytime. He said he had used the mass transport system when he was still in the private sector, and when he served as undersecretary of the Department of Transportation and Communications in previous administrations.

Presidential spokesman Edwin Lacierda and his deputy Abigail Valte took the MRT to work in Malacañang on Monday.

“Took the MRT ride rush hour challenge at 8:24 am,” Valte tweeted. “Waited in line 37 minutes. Ride took 40 minutes, North (EDSA avenue) to Taft (avenue),” Valte said on her Twitter post.

“The ride itself was okay. Lining up along Edsa? Lot to be desired. Line to buy ticket was about 10 people deep,” she added.

Valte said she would find time to ride the MRT whenever she can.

Senator Grace Poe and Transportation and Communications Secretary Joseph Emilio Abaya also took the MRT challenge, but the latter received flak for taking the train in the afternoon during lull hours, accompanied by several aides and the MRT’s general manager.

Gov’t takeover not the solution

Meanwhile, MRT Holdings Inc., the majority shareholder of Metro Rail Transit Corp. (MRTC), insisted that government takeover of the MRT Line 3 is not the solution to commuters’ woes.

“An equity value buyout will not address the problem of safety. The problem of safety can only be addressed by getting a qualified maintenance provider. An equity value buyout is a right given to MRTC in case of default of the government,” David Narvasa, MRT Holdings spokesman, said.

MRTC built the mass transit system and owns its facilities. The government in turn leases and pays rental payments to operate the mass transit system.

MRTC filed an arbitration case in Singapore against the Philippine government in January 2009 due to failure to pay equity rentals in a timely manner.

Narvasa stressed the need for the Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC), which is in charge of the operation and maintenance of the mass transit system, is to get a qualified maintenance provider that is “financially and technically capable.”

He said MRT Holdings had been proposing upgrades in anticipation of reaching the 350,000-passenger design capacity of the MRT-3 but DOTC did not act on these proposals.

“We gave government proposals for additional trains in 2002, 2004, 2007, 2010, including a proposal where the trains would be purchased at no cost to government but all these proposals were not acted upon by government,” he said. – With Lawrence Agcaoili