‘Loyalty to a friend must end where loyalty to another begins’

Many people including myself are still perplexed at President Aquino’s continued stubbornness in keeping Transportation Secretary Jun Abaya at his post despite increasing public disenchantment. The issues involving the DOTC and its attached agencies like the Land Transportation Office with the delayed issuance of driver’s licenses, car plates and registration stickers; the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board whose inability to discipline erring bus and taxi companies with abusive drivers and colorum units endangers motorists and commuters; and most of all – the MRT mess – is driving public frustration and anger against the DOTC chief and ultimately the president.

The MRT most especially has been like a hot potato with blame being passed from one administration to another. But there’s no denying that it has been almost six years since the Aquino government took over. At the onset, people were expecting that things would get better but what we mostly hear nowadays are bitter regrets with majority of commuters saying they are definitely experiencing change – from bad to worse. When President Aquino took over in 2010, there were 72 MRT trains (from the original 73) that were still operational but by May last year, only less than a dozen are operational (our information is that fewer than 10 are in good working condition).

Adding to the problem of frequent breakdowns that cause passengers to be stranded for hours are the long lines, leaking roofs, non-functioning air conditioning units and inoperative elevators that cause suffering to older passengers and persons with disability. While it’s true that the buck stops with the president when it comes to issues of public concern, it also begins with Secretary Abaya who, unfortunately, has yet to erase the perception that he is inefficient, what with the worsening condition of the MRT since he took over the DOTC portfolio from Mar Roxas in 2012. To this day, the commuting public could not forget Abaya’s casual dismissal of their woes when he said “traffic is not fatal” – seeing him as insensitive and uncaring despite his later issuance of an apology that people have also labeled as “halfhearted” and “insincere.”

Some of us who know Jun see him as a really nice guy who means well, but the MRT issue is mostly bringing curses raining down upon his head and ultimately, the president – almost every single day from angry commuters because of the deteriorating condition of the mass transportation system. Calls for his resignation began to mount following a series of MRT accidents including the time when a “runaway train” rammed through a barrier at the Taft Avenue station in August 2014. In response, Abaya declared that all it takes is “one text” from the president and he will step down from his post. People saw that as a haughty display of confidence and his friendship with the president. Jun Abaya was the aide de camp of the late president Cory Aquino. Loyalty to friends is one thing but when you’re president – loyalty must be to the people you serve.

Just recently, after controversy arose again over the P4 billion maintenance contract with Korean-Filipino consortium Busan because it did not go through a public bidding, the DOTC Secretary once again rubbed the public the wrong way when he said, “As I said from the very first day, it’s a mere privilege for me to be serving our people and that could be taken away any time.”

Several of our employees who take the MRT every day complained to us that they sometimes end up spending more for transportation because they are forced to take the bus whenever the MRT breaks down (despite “fervent prayers” on their part). They also said they could no longer wait for the next administration to have a new DOTC chief who could solve the MRT mess – they want it done now because every day feels like an eternity for the long-suffering public that seems to have had more than enough of “carrying the cross.” It did not help either that the trains broke down twice again last Friday – the first day when the new maintenance contractor was supposed to take over. 

Yet the president has stubbornly declared that Abaya will only leave when he does this June, dismissing the mounting complaints as mere grumbling from leftists. More than 600,000 (some even say up to a million) riders are dependent on the MRT – critical considering that the elections is just a few months away. Ironically, P-Noy’s loyalty to one friend is ruining the chances of supposedly another friend – Mar Roxas – of becoming president. The people are already promising retribution at the polls, furious that the president seems to put more stock into his friendship with the DOTC chief than the welfare of the public whom he calls his “bosses.”

The MRT issue is proving to be a PR nightmare for the Liberal Party standard bearer which could only benefit his rivals, among them Senator Grace Poe who is perceived as someone who sincerely sympathizes with the plight of ordinary commuters. Filipinos being naturally forgiving as they are, it will probably take just one symbolic gesture of goodwill on the part of the president to douse cold water on the boiling anger of his “bosses” – by letting go of his good friend Jun Abaya. Since he is the Liberal Party president, Abaya can do a “win-win” by concentrating on the candidacy of Mar Roxas by staying away from the MRT hotspot – and appease the ire of the commuting public. To paraphrase President Manuel Quezon’s line: “loyalty to a friend must end where loyalty to another begins.”

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