Palace: LRT, MRT fare hike long overdue

MANILA, Philippines - Malacañang yesterday supported the decision of the Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) to increase fares in the Light and Metro Rail Transit systems, saying this was long overdue.

Press Secretary Herminio Coloma Jr. said the 60 percent LRT/MRT subsidy by taxpayers from Visayas and Mindanao – who are not train riders – should stop, and train fares should be closer to those of air-conditioned buses.

Fare hikes in the metropolis’ mass transport system – which has conked out repeatedly and is feared to be obsolete – has always been mentioned in Aquino’s yearly State of the Nation Address.

Coloma stressed the fare hike is long overdue to free up the government subsidy on the commuter train system.

He said it is most unfair that people who are not using the trains are shouldering LRT/MRT operations.

Coloma said regular train commuters only pay P15 for the P40 worth of fare subsidized by people living in the Visayas and Mindanao.

Blackmail

Lawmakers from the Bayan Muna party-list group slammed Malacañang for virtually blackmailing the public into accepting the LRT/MRT fare hikes.

Reps. Neri Colmenares and Carlos Zarate sought a special congressional inquiry into the fare hikes during the Christmas break as the DOTC announced the fare hikes will take effect in the first week of January.

“We are not against development or the extension of the rail systems but we are against passing government irresponsibility and corporate greed not to mention corrupt practices onto hapless commuters,” Colmenares said.

He said Malacañang was practically blackmailing the public into accepting the fare hikes when it said these were meant to reduce government subsidies that may be otherwise used for other projects.

“The argument that the subsidy allotted to the MRT/LRT should be lowered or given to other regions because they do not use it is wrong because such an argument can also be used against projects in other regions,” Colmenares said.

“An example is like for the Aquino administration would stop constructing or rehabilitating a bridge in Eastern Visayas because the people of Mindanao would not be using it,” he said.

“It is not wrong to subsidize projects that would benefit a specific region, so if the government would also develop a mass transportation system for other regions then it would be good, what is wrong is to create conflict and division among regions and provinces and pit the projects and benefits of one region against the other,” he added.

Zarate said the Aquino government has adopted privatization as its escape hatch whenever it needs to bail out its public utilities buried in debt due to poor management and/or corruption.

He said the experience with privatization has shown that privatized utilities bring about unregulated price increases.

“It is feared that increasing fares will eventually lead to privatization and the state’s abandonment of its duty to provide affordable mass transportation to the citizens,” Zarate said.

“Before proposing any increases, the high cost of operations and the large amount of debt incurred by the project should first be investigated, specifically on whether taxpayers are actually subsidizing debt incurred by the private consortium that built the MRT. There is need for government to look into the operational costs of the MRT and LRT lines to check if there might be excessive expenses or mismanagement of funds,” he said.

Transportation Secretary Joseph Emilio Abaya said the fare hike will push through on Jan. 4 next year, even if commuters complain of long queues and poor service for the MRT and LRT Lines 1 and 2.

He issued Department Order No 2014-014, setting the new fares for the country’s three major mass transport systems in the metropolis. – With Paolo Romero