Increases in LRT/MRT fares is wrong timing!

We already asked the million-peso question… with the world prices of oil now at record lows (at $56.52 per barrel as of last Sunday’s oil price chart) how come the prices of basic commodities have not gone down as expected. Whatever happened to that law of supply and demand? Did Congress amend or repeal it? A week after we wrote that column… the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) suddenly made their rounds of the markets only to discover that the prices of basic commodities wasn’t going down.

Take a good look at the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB). After a long deliberation and against the protestation of the militant jeepney organizations… they finally reduced the jeepney fares by a measly P1. This brings us to ask… was the LTFRB created to help the jeepney operators rather than help the millions of commuters? I dare say that the P1 reduction in jeepney fares do not give justice to the daily commuter because they know too well how much are the pump prices of crude oil today.

Whenever I met up with LTFRB officials in Cebu I always tell them that there was a better way to calculate the fare prices, which can be easily pegged at the pump prices of oil products. All the LTFRB should do is come up with a graph of oil prices in the gas stations and line it up with the fare equivalent. When the oil prices zoom up…so will the fares go up a week after the prices were set and consequently when the pump prices of go down, so will the fares go down a week after this new prices are set. This is the right thing to do, but unfortunately, there are public officials in the LTFRB who just don’t have the brains or the guts to implement this scheme!

This is why today the daily commuters suffer silently and this is due to the Filipino people’s resilience. We were under a harsh Spanish rule for four centuries and we didn’t have the guts to revolt, except a few hardy souls like Dagohoy in Bohol. Then the Americans took the Philippines from Spain and we experienced 50 years of Hollywood, believing in the American propaganda that they had “benevolent” intentions in the Philippines.

And when Japan invaded the Philippines and American failed to defend our territory… we didn’t blame the Americans and rejoiced when Gen. Douglas MacArthur returned to Tacloban, Leyte. If there is one trait of the Filipino it is that he is not only resilient he is also gullible, believing in the American propaganda and today they succumb to the Goebbels type of propaganda pursued by the Aquino regime.

As if the Filipino people haven’t suffered enough, we got word that today the DOTC will implement an increase in the rates of the Metro Rail Transit (MRT) and the Light Rail Transit (LRT) systems, which Press Secretary Herminio Coloma Jr. says was long overdue! Well, finally someone from Malacañang Palace admitted what I’ve been writing all along and let me quote Sec. Coloma who said, “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.”

Again let me repeat… the taxes that are collected in the Visayas and Mindanao subsidize the LRT/MRT operations by as much as 60% and the people of Manila, Parañaque, Caloocan, Makati and Quezon City do not even say a word of thanks to the people from the Visayas and Mindanao who do not have any mass transit systems. This is proof of the greed of Imperial Manila, where they suck our blood and guts for their comfort.

With that said, while I’m glad that finally Sec. Coloma has told the truth about our subsidizing the LRT/MRT, however increasing their fares today in an era when the prices of oil has dropped to record heights is just wrong timing! Come on! Just a few months back an MRT train crashed at the corner of EDSA and Taft Avenue and that’s due to the corruption in the MRT where the maintenance project was given to a neophyte company.

Worse of all… the kilometers long queues of commuters only show that under the management of the cronies of Pres. Benigno “P-Noy” Aquino III the once well-managed MRT has gone to the dogs! So until they fix this problem Malacañang should be advised not to increase the MRT/LRT fares at this time… more so that the prices of oil have gone down.

Finally, allow me to ask this question…whatever happened to those militant groups and their Party-list Congressmen who demanded to repeal the Oil Deregulation Law? When the prices of crude rose up to unimaginable heights… these people wanted to return to the Oil Price Stabilization Fund (OPSF) where the pump prices of oil was set by the President. But now these people are strangely quiet because the Oil Deregulation Law is clearly working for the benefit of the Filipino people because prices of oil have gone down to record low. I say that government should set a timetable for this increase.

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