DOTC chief dared to take on ‘UP challenge’

MANILA, Philippines - A consumers’ group yesterday dared Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) Secretary Joseph Emilio “Jun” Abaya to address issues hounding the Metro Rail Transit (MRT) 3 before the same crowd of UP students who heckled Budget Secretary Florencio “Butch” Abad last week.

The National Coalition of Filipino Consumers (NCFC) challenged Abaya to take on what they dubbed as the “UP challenge” so he could “explain why the MRT 3 is glitch-prone and what the DOTC is doing to fix it.”

“Although we do not condone violence, we can understand why the students did what they did. UP students are passionate, especially about the issues they are fighting for,” lawyer Oliver San Antonio, spokesman for the NCFC, told reporters.

“What cannot be denied is that you will find your toughest audience in Diliman. If anyone can ask Secretary Abaya the hard questions, it’s the students and faculty of UP,” said San Antonio, a chemical engineering graduate and former chairman of the UP student council. 

He said Abaya and other DOTC officials could use such a forum “to discuss the government’s plans to take over the MRT. If this is to benefit the riding public, UP would be a good place to explain how, in front of the most critical and cynical audience in the country.”

The lawyer added that the agency could take the opportunity to explain the new Terms of Reference for the MRT’s maintenance providers.

San Antonio believes that while the incident would discourage government officials from attending UP forums, Abaya might be courageous enough to face the challenge.

“However, as a former member of the Armed Forces and someone who survived one of the toughest military schools in the world, we are sure he will not be intimidated by booing. If there is someone who will not be afraid to accept the UP challenge, it is him,” San Antonio said.

UP students booed and heckled Abad last week during a forum on the 2015 budget at the UP School of Economics. Tensions ran high at the event, as students threw coins at the budget secretary, who was grabbed by the collar before leaving the venue.

The incident has drawn cheers and jeers from the UP community, with UP professors both defending and condemning the actions of the students. 

‘Abad deserves respect’

For his part, UP president Alfredo Pascual said Abad deserves respect and courtesy.

“Secretary Abad, as an invited speaker in the UP forum, should have been accorded the courtesy and respect due to all guests of the university,” he said in a statement.

However, Pascual maintained the need for the university to continue its “time-honored tradition of dissent” against questionable government policies.

“I have always maintained that as the country’s national university, UP must lead the debates on important issues confronting the country,” he said. “But debate and dissent, while articulated with passion, require evidence-based and reasoned arguments, and civility to and respect for those who hold the opposite view.”