MANILA, Philippines - Various people's groups and commuters welfare advocacy groups will ask the Supreme Court (SC) today to stop the Light Rail Transit and Metro Rail Transit (LRT-MRT) fare hikes, saying the new rate adjustments are "baseless and unjustified."
The petitioners, including militant group Bayan, Riles Network, activist and former lawmaker Teodoro Casiño, and former LRTA administrator Melquiades Robles, will file a 58-page certiorari and prohibition petition this morning before the High Court.
They will be assisted by the National Union of People's Lawyers (NUPL).
The petitioners will ask the SC to issue a temporary restraining order or a status quo ante order to stop the impending LRT-MRT fare increases.
Lawyer Edre Olalia of the NUPL said the fare hike will be imposed through an "irregular and invalid process amounting to grave abuse of discretion."
"The fare hike is without legal basis. The DOTC (Department of Transportation and Communications) and its secretary cannot be the fare hike proponent, approving body and implementor all at the same time. The fare hike cannot be valid without a proper public hearing where the proponents present all the basis for the fare hike and the public is given the opportunity to oppose it," Bayan secretary general Renato Reyes Jr. said.
Reyes said that private stakeholders are the only ones who will benefit from the fare hikes.
"It has nothing to do the improving the services of the trains. Congress already appropriated some P9.3 billion for the improvement and rehabilitation of the train system. Why increase fares when Congress has already allocated increased budget?" Reyes said.