Group hits DOTC approach to MRT problem

MANILA, Philippines - The National Coalition of Filipino Consumers (NCFC) slammed the “talyer” or workshop approach taken by the Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) to address problems with the Metro Rail Transit Line 3 (MRT-3).

“The increasing number of problems… reinforce our belief that it’s time for a major overhaul of the system. And we need to do it now, before another accident occurs, or before the MRT becomes completely unrideable,” NCFC lawyer and spokesman Oliver San Antonio told reporters.

He said MRT-3 has been abused and overused with trains ideally for 350,000 passengers daily actually carrying over half-a-million people everyday. 

“If you subject a car to that kind of abuse, no amount of maintenance will make it run properly. Even if you bring it to a car shop and have it fixed piecemeal, it will still break down,” he said.

The NCFC official said it is about time to get new trains.

Meanwhile, Sen. Nancy Binay scoffed at the move of the DOTC to take over the maintenance of the MRT-3.

She said that the DOTC has not proven that it can handle the operation or even the maintenance of the MRT.

“It’s a risky experiment, using commuters as guinea pigs. Do they have people who are technically competent to handle the maintenance?” Binay said.

She advised the DOTC to appoint a permanent administrator for the MRT.

She said that the DOTC should also consider for its upper management positions people who have technical experience.

“There are a lot of lawyers in the upper management of DOTC. It’s high time that they get engineers or people with technical experience in running transportation systems as an undersecretary or assistant secretary position,” she said. – Rainier Allan Ronda, Perseus Echeminada, Edu Punay, Marvin Sy