Palace: Fare increase not even enough

MANILA, Philippines - Commuters have no reason to gripe against the increase in fares in the Light Rail Transit and Metro Rail Transit as such is not even enough to turn the system around or cover the existing government subsidy, a Palace official clarified yesterday.

“Every year we have subsidized MRT with quite a big sum. This year, we have lessened it to P10 billion,” presidential spokesman Edwin Lacierda pointed out.  The annual subsidy stood at P12 billion.

“We are not saying we are taking out the entire subsidy. Let me be clear with that,” he said. “So of those P2 billion that we can save, we are going to allocate the resources outside of (Metro Manila), or in other areas like the Visayas and Mindanao,” he said.

The Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC), meanwhile, announced yesterday the appointment of Roman Buenafe as general manager of MRT-3, replacing Renato San Jose.

San Jose was appointed MRT-3 officer-in-charge after Al Vitangcol III resigned in the wake of accusations that he had tried to extort $30 million from Czech-owned Inekon Group.

“We did not take away the subsidy. The subsidy is still there. And if you compare it with the other modes of transportation, it is still lower compared to the other – the buses, air-con or regular,” Lacierda pointed out.

He said the fare hike was based on consultations, and that militant groups were just simply not ready to accept it.

“If I recall, there were consultations made. In fact, Bayan or Bayan Muna were obviously not happy with it,” Lacierda said. “It was reported in the papers that consultations were made and Bayan et al were present and they were not happy with it.”

Lacierda also fended off criticisms from administration lawmakers like Sens. Francis Escudero and Grace Poe, who said that fare adjustment was not necessary as there is allocation in this year’s DOTC budget for the rehabilitation of the country’s mass transport system.

The senators had pointed out the fare hike issue was not raised during budget deliberations.

The budget for the rehabilitation of the LRT and MRT coaches this year is P2.5 billion, compared to the P1.2 billion allocated to the DOTC in the 2014 national budget.

“Certainly, we appreciate the work of the legislators. But that’s only to bring... from where we are to improve the system. Just because we put a budget for this year, doesn’t mean everything is okay,” he said.

“But, certainly, we’d like to have a system that is at par with other countries,” Lacierda said.

“The bigger picture is not focused simply on MRT itself. The bigger picture is really to identify what can we use, what resources can we allocate to the other regions also,” he explained.

“This is not the first time that we have publicly manifested the intention to raise the MRT rates. In fact, the State of the Nation Address (SONA) of the President some years ago already mentioned why we needed to increase the MRT rates, at the same time allocate resources to areas and other regions which do not benefit from the MRT service,” he said.

Aboveboard

Transportation Secretary Joseph Emilio Abaya argued the move to raise MRT and LRT fares was aboveboard. He said the same procedures were followed as when the LRT fares were increased in 2003.

He pointed out that the DOTC as well as the Light Rail Transit Authority (LRTA) conducted a series of public consultations on the proposed fare hike for MRT-3 as well as for LRT-1 and 2.

“The procedures were laid out and we had public consultations,” the DOTC chief said.

He explained that as early as May 2011 the LRTA board had approved a formula wherein a fixed rate of P11 base fare plus P1 per kilometer would be charged to MRT and LRT passengers.

The proposed fare hike was revived when President Aquino stated in his 4th SONA in July 2013 the need for a fare increase.

This prompted the DOTC and the LRTA to conduct its last public hearing on the proposed fare hike for the mass transit systems in December 2013.

Using the uniform distance-based fare scheme, passengers of the 17-kilometer MRT-3 from North Avenue in Quezon City to Taft Avenue in Pasay City are charged P28 for stored value and single journey tickets from the current fare of P15.

When the mass transit system started operating in 1999, fares ranged from P17 to P34.

On the other hand, LRT-1 passengers would have to shell out P30 for single journey and P29 for stored value tickets from the existing P20 fare.

LRT-1 runs to and from Baclaran in Paranaque City and Monumento in Caloocan City.

Passengers of LRT-2 from Recto Ave. in Manila to Santolan in Pasig City would have to pay P24 for stored value and P25 for single journey tickets from P15.

The government last raised fares for LRT-1 to P15 in 2003 while fares of LRT-2 remain unchanged.