Online petition: Noy should require officials take MRT, buses

MANILA, Philippines - An online petition addressed to President Benigno Aquino III is challenging him to require all government officials to take public transportation to make them understand the plight of commuters.

The petition launched on the advocacy website Change.org by a certain Dinna Dayao from Manila is asking Aquino to require all government officials, including Malacañang staff and the Cabinet, to take public transit at least once a month.

"The government puts all its efforts in trying to solve traffic, but not in solving public transportation," the petition said. "Please require all government officials, including Malacañang staff and senior cabinet officials, to take public transit at least once a month."

The petition lamented that while the government keeps on building roads and flyovers, it doesn't invest, however, in facilities that provide easier mobility for transit riders.

These facilities include comfortable bus, jeep, and train stops, wide sidewalks, and well-designed walkways that connect the different modes of transport, according to the petition.

It claimed that 80 percent of Metro Manila residents including children, the elderly, and persons with disabilities—take public transportation but the "dismal state of public transit" doesn’t allow them mobility with safety and civility.

"They suffer long lines, squeeze into jam-packed trains and rickety buses and jeeps, and endure long travel times," the petition said.

As of Wednesday afternoon, the petition has gained over 400 supporters.

"How can they (government officials) put together 'sensible' transport policies and translate it into programs and projects if they are clueless what it is like to be a commuter in Metro Manila?" asked Mark Noman Maca of Paranaque, one of the signatories on the petition.

"Once a month (of taking public transit) wouldn't even describe the public's suffering," said Marlon Co of Manila, another signatory.