Yes to MRT Shut Down!

            It is talk of the town that the government has a plan to temporary shut down the MRT to avoid another accident like what happened last August where 38 people had been injured. As what we heard in the past few weeks, MRT had confronted problems with their operation. Department of Transportation and Communications Sec. Jun Abaya said that the railroads of MRT has many defective steel bars. That’s why they need to shut down the MRT to fix the railroads.

            As a commuter, I agree to the decision of the government although I need to sacrifice for a long period of time. Maybe this is not a best idea; but they really need to do this. It is better to wait rather than to put ourselves in danger. We just admit that MRT is the easiest way to come faster to our destinations. Although you will experience first many hassles before you reach to your destination. The government should not operate MRT until they will not fix it. Why you offer a service if you know that it is not safe anymore? If you’re a bus or a jeepney operator; you make sure that your units are in good condition before you use it on the road. Same to MRT; if you don’t have a safety measure, you’re also putting the lives of your passengers into danger. If the government will continue use MRT even they knew it has many defectives; the lives of thousands Filipino are also in danger. So, we should sacrifice for the temporary shut down of MRT although it will give us headache.

            Even Metro Trail Transit Corp. (MRTC) are also agreed to the suggestion of the government. By the way, MRTC is owned by MRT Holdings which is composed of private companies like Ayala Land, Fil Estate, Family Ramos of National Bookstore, etc. If the MRT owners already agreed, what can we do? The private entities just thinking the situation of the public commuters. They are ready to sacrifice their own interest for the sake of the passengers although they are not the one who did a mistake why the system of MRT became defective. It is the fault of DOTC because they made a lot of wrong decisions for the MRT operation.

            The government and MRTC had BLT agreement in 1999 after they entered in a public-private partnership. According to their agreement, as the owner of MRT3, MRT Holdings has only the right to choose any bidder for the development of the train system. Aside from that, only them has the right to choose their own maintenance provider. But the government violated that rules. Instead, the government chose an another maintenance provider. First, they gave a contract to Phl Trams and after that they passed the contract on  Autre Porte Technique Global Inc’s (APT Global). The government also ordered rail coaches to the Chinese company and it will be delivered next year.

            Last month, the contract of APT Global had already finished, but the government has extended their contract. So, let’s find out if the maintenance provider could fix properly all the defective steel bars. They should prove to the public that the government is not wrong when they decided to extend their contract. For the mean time, let us wait and see what happens next...