The Twisted Direction of EDSA MRT-3

           The derailment of the EDSA-MRT 3 last Wendsday at Taft station made panic and furious to the public. Thirty eighty people had been injured in this accident. The passengers believed that it is not safe anymore to ride in MRT. Despite of this they are still riding in MRT, not because this it would give them convenience, but this is the easy way to reach their destination although it is unsafe and overcrowded.

            Well, what happened to MRT-3 is because of mismanagement and lack of proper maintenance. Instead to take the responsibility of the accident, DOTC Sec. Jun Abaya said that it was an error due to the negligence of the drivers. According to him, it is still safe to ride in MRT, but still it is our personal decision if we will ride in MRT. It seems that Sec. Abaya forgot that he is a public official. It is not appropriate to hear from him such shallow answer.If he is a man enough, he should take the whole responsibility of that accident and he should not blame the drivers. It happened because of the poor maintenance of PH Trans-Vitangcol group.

            The Metro Pacific (a unit of PLDT) has already offered their service to the Philippine government that they will shoulder all expenses in buying new trains plus they will also take the responsibility to maintain it. The company believed that the MRT trains purchased by our government to the Chinese contractors are unsafe, so they need to replace it.  If the government agreed, all they have to do is to adjust the fare, but it is still cheaper compare to the bus fare. That was a very good proposal from Metro Pacific; the sad thing is the government turned down their offer. Without thinking that it might solve their problems. It could improve our train system, then the passengers would also be comfortable. Plus the fact that they don’t need to release any buget for that because there was a private sector willing to invest their money for the development of EDSA sub-standard train system.

            Once, the Metro Trail Transit Corporation (MRTC), a company under Metro Rail Transit Holdings (MRTG) requested to DOTC that they will conduct a technical inspection to MRT-3, but they didn’t allow them although their intention was to know the true  condition of the train system. It seems that Sec. Abaya don’t want to make any improvement in MRT-3. Does his loyalty belongs to their allied company? Instead to have a commitment to the Filipino people, especially to the residence of Metro Manila who rides in MRT.