LRT-2 offers free rides on Rizal Day

MANILA, Philippines — Commuters can enjoy free rides at the Light Rail Transit Line 2 (LRT-2) tomorrow, Rizal Day, according to Light Rail Transit Authority (LRTA).

The free rides at the LRT-2 will be available from 7 a.m. to 9 a.m., and from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m., the LRTA announced in an advisory.

It said that the first train from both Antipolo and Recto stations would leave at 5 a.m., while the last train from Antipolo station would depart at 9 p.m. and the last train from Recto station would leave at 9:30 p.m.

The LRTA came up with the free rides at the LRT-2 “to honor and join (the public in commemorating) the 128th anniversary of the martyrdom of Dr. José Rizal.”

Meanwhile, both the National Historical Commission of the Philippines (NHCP) and the National Parks Development Committee (NPDC) have announced a lineup of activities for Rizal Day, an annual regular holiday.

Simultaneous flag-raising rites at 7 a.m. will be held at Rizal Park or Luneta, Rizal Shrine in his birthplace Calamba in Laguna and at Rizal Shrine in Dapitan City, Zamboanga del Norte, where he was exiled by the Spanish colonial government, according to the NHCP.

The agency will also open exhibits “Remembering Rizal in Artworks and Monuments” at the NHCP Building just within Rizal Park and “Hagod Rizal: A Commemorative Exhibit and Portraiture Workshop” at Fort Santiago, where Rizal was jailed before he was shot by firing squad at what was known then as Bagumbayan.

Meanwhile, the NPDC said the Armed Forces of the Philippines, the Philippine Navy and the Philippine Marine Corps will also perform the changing-of- the-guard ceremony at the Rizal Monument, followed by the silent drill exhibition behind the Rizal Monument (Lawn A) starting 4 p.m.