Sniffing guards unleashed at MRT

Security guards at the Metro Rail Transit (MRT), now teeming with passengers because of the oil price surge, often mistake passengers taking lozenges or medicine – or those who simply have bad breath – as being under the influence of liquor. 

Among the security measures at the MRT is the banning of drunk persons from boarding the train.

But due to lack of alcohol detection devices, not to mention the sheer volume of commuters, security guards, particularly those deployed along the entrance of the North to Taft Avenue stations, have to rely only on their sense of smell, which has failed them a number of times.

One passenger told this reporter recently that a guard, who believed he was drunk because of a strong odor, accosted him and reported him to the supervisor.

But the man protested, saying Fisherman’s Friend, a strong lozenge that he took to cure his sore throat, caused the strong smell.

After a second whiff, the guard finally allowed the man to board the train.

As a regular passenger of the MRT, this reporter also noticed that most of the guards, while poking their sticks into the bags of passengers, also smell the breath of the passengers, particularly at night, to prevent those who are drunk from taking the train.

Roberto Lastimoso, MRT general manager, said the new security measure is intended to prevent drunken passengers from harassing other passengers.

Lastimoso also clarified that smelly passengers are still allowed to board the train as long as they have not taken alcoholic drinks.

“Kung nangangamoy lang at hindi lasing, puwede pa rin sumakay (If the passenger only has strong smell but is not drunk, then he can still board the train),” Lastimoso told The STAR.