EDITORIAL - Criminal negligence

Like aircraft and ships, trains and railway systems need proper maintenance. In other countries, railway systems are monitored around the clock for glitches, and sufficient public funds are allocated for maintenance requirements.

As in other countries, taxes in this country have been spent for the maintenance of the Metro Rail Transit and Light Railway Transit systems. The maintenance fees paid over the years to private companies have reached billions of pesos. Taxpayers have a right to demand how the money was spent, who received the money, and why commuters now face the prospect of having the MRT shut down pending a maintenance upgrade.

Even with regular glitches, the MRT and LRT are almost always packed. With the usual traffic jams in Metro Manila aggravated by simultaneous public works projects and the congestion in the Port of Manila, the light railway services have become even more popular. While the train service itself is quick and traffic-free, however, passengers must wait in long lines for nearly an hour to get a ride.

The inadequacy of the service has been evident for some time. Instead of expanding the MRT and LRT lines, however, plans for any upgrade have become bogged down in red tape, paralyzing indecision and corruption scandals.

The daang matuwid administration, quick to condemn and conclude guilt when it comes to the political opposition, trumpets the presumption of innocence when it comes to its officials who are under investigation by the Office of the Ombudsman for a multimillion-dollar sweetheart deal for MRT maintenance that was awarded to a group with links to the sacked MRT chief and the Liberal Party. President Aquino also seems to have relegated to the archives the recommendations of the Department of Justice on a $30-million extortion complaint involving a train supply contract for the MRT-3.

The MRT mess betrays a lack of foresight, a cavalier attitude toward the provision of quality service to the public, and downright incompetence. If this catastrophe was also caused by corruption, it’s criminal negligence that calls for punishment.