No to P6-MRT fare hike!

DIE HARD III

Herman Tiu Laurel

11/12/2012

A few months ago Department of Transportation and Communications (DoTC) Secretary Mar Roxas bequeathed a hard-line P10-MRT (Metro Rail Transit) fare hike stand for his successor Secretary Joseph Emilio Abaya to parlay with the public. Met with adamant resistance from commuters and taxpayers enlightened on the serial MRT scam the Aquino administration through DoTC secretary has taken one half-step back and "concedes" to introducing "improvements" first before raising rates by a reduced amount. They hope to erode public resistance with this: But the fact remains — the MRT and LRT (Light Rail Transit) fares today are at least P5 over the O&M (operation and maintenance) costs and there's already hundreds of millions for major improvements. Aquino should prosecute those responsible for the scams instead of paying them at eh expense of the people.

After the All Saints' Day holidays, DoTC Secretary Antonio Abaya made an obtuse statement to the effect that the MRT fare hike he announced earlier "…must be adjusted upwards only if the railway systems service improves." This was partially an announcement that the MRT fares would no longer be increased on Jan. 13 as earlier scheduled, a step backwards for the DoTC, and an admission of the resounding victory of the arguments put forward by the campaign of various commuter crusaders who have battled to oppose and stop the MRT fare hike. The Aquino government has been pushing the MRT fare hike since day one of its administration but never presented actual MRT figures on the cost of operations to the public without exposing the scam Aquino's oligarchs-backers wrote into the original contract.

The DoTC secretary may also be reacting to this writer's article last month entitled "Lower the MRT fares" where we reported the results of research and studies made by the RILES Network (of which I am co-convenor and spokesman) with a coalition of NGOs, including Agham (a group of scientists) which found that the MRT O&M (operation and maintenance) cost per passenger is only P 9.11/trip. Agham's Giovanni Tapang used the "farebox" method, dividing the total revenues by the entire cost of O&M and found that MRT commuters are actually paying more than enough to run and maintain the MRT. Abaya is quoted saying "actual cost of transporting passengers from end to end of the railway station costs P60… the government must subsidize P45 of the cost since only P15 is collected from the passengers as fares." There are several lies there.

Abaya is reported to say, "Under the present system, a commuter pays P12 to P15 since the government shoulders P40 of the actual cost of P55." Abaya is not being accurate as the Aquino government shoulders nothing; it is the taxpayer and commuters shouldering everything. The government does not include the people, and by the way it acts it certainly never considers the people. The State is defined as including the people, but not the government. This is something our system has to clarify still. The fact is, MRT commuters paying P12 to P15 are already P5 for that subsidy, the amount over the P9.11/ passenger O&M cost. The rest the taxpayers are shouldering to pay off the guaranteed profits of the serial con artists who have sold and resold the MRT profits four times over, con men the Aquino government is shielding and protecting.

The Palace is saying "P6-MRT 3 fare hike a 'good compromise'" — so the fare hike is not off the table at all. From the very beginning of the MRT fare hike controversy I wrote that the P10 fare hike was a ploy. I told my two youngest sons who take the MRT/LRT to their respective universities every day, "The government is really aiming for a P5-fare hike, starting at P10 and scaling down to half that they hope the public will eventually, easily swallow." So, let's not be fooled. There are still other sources to raise fund without any fare hike, like reversion of revenues from ancillary business such as advertising and real estate values to the MRT operations, and changing the overpricing maintenance contractors like Sumitomo to in-house maintenance that would be cheaper.

The RILES Network will start the petition signing campaign for a "Lower the MRT fare" crusade, and will appear again at different MRT stations to commuters to sign on and ensure justice for the millions of MRT/LRT passengers. There is no compromise, if we want genuine democracy, truth and justice must prevail completely and the only rule is "The greater good for the greater number of people."

(Watch GNN's HTL show, GNN Channel 8, Saturdays, 8:15 to 9 p.m., 11:15 p.m. and Sunday 8 a.m., and over www.gnntv-asia.com: "Bangsamoro Realities" with Gov. Al Tillah and Prof. Antoinio Pangilinan; tune to 1098AM radio Tuesday To Friday 5 to 6 p.m. http://newkatipunan.blogspot.com)