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)

Reeking with arrogance

BACKBENCHER

Rod P. Kapunan

11/10-11/2012

What is manifest about the newly-appointed commissioner of the Commission on Elections is the fact that she is practically reeking with arrogance. Grace Padaca's conduct amounts to telling the court she could only be removed from her current position through impeachment. Many interpret her statement as coming from one heavily intoxicated with power because the implication is that she is above the law and could get away with anything if she so desires.

We are compelled to say this because Padaca is accused of a serious crime of graft for awarding a P25-million rice contract without conducting a public biding in 2006 to a private entity known as the Economic Development for Western Isabela and Northern Luzon Foundation, Inc. Everybody knows that like President Noynoy Aquino, she is also a creation of the mainstream media, by her foreign brokers and by the local elite.

Padaca's luck in breaking the well-entrenched political dynasty should not be interpreted that she was voted by the people in Isabela on the basis of her so-called sterling honesty. Instead, it was out of their growing realization that they deserved a break from the clan that had been in politics for almost 50 years now. But that was a myth. No sooner after she was elected on the charm of running as an alleged underdog, her true color as a traditional politician emerged.

That she lost her re-election bid was supposed to have served as an omen that something was wrong with her. Recall that the cases against her were filed before she was appointed by this equally arrogant administration. To be more precise, they were filed while she was still the governor of Isabela.

Moreover, her defeat as governor only rendered moot and academic the imposition of a preventive suspension by the Sandiganbayan as provided under Section 13 of Republic Act 3019, otherwise known as the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act. Nonetheless, she was directed to post a bond for those cases which were filed while she was still in office, and have been pending with the Sandiganbayan since July 2011.

Before the yellow hypocrites came to power, decency demanded that public officials who stand as accused for graft and corruption have no business holding on to their office at least until and after the case has been resolved in their favor. In the meantime, they should desist from seeking any position in government, whether by election or by appointment, to prevent them from using their position and connection to influence the outcome of the case.

Even then, Padaca's anomalous appointment as Comelec commissioner will not serve to bar the court from prosecuting her despite the fact that the position she now holds is impeachable as provided under Section 2, Article XI of the Constitution. Neither would that serve to dismiss the graft and malversation cases, nor would have the effect of suspending their litigation. Rather, Padaca should be reminded that cases for which a public official could be impeached pertain only to those committed while in office, but not when they committed were and have in fact been charged before they were appointed.

Otherwise, Padaca would be making a mockery of our justice system considering that impeachment proceedings in this country is more of a political circus as when the lawmakers acting as prosecutors ganged up on the accused for grandstanding purposes and for the reward of pork barrel that awaited them. As one lawyer observed, should the Sandiganbayan dismiss those cases and allow them to be re-filed before the impeachment court would only result in Padaca invoking her right to double jeopardy to peremptorily seek their permanent dismissal.

As if to rub salt into the wound of the offended public, her arrogant patron shouldered her bond by chipping in P70,000. The Sandiganbayan also directed her to post P140,000 travel bond to allow her to attend the US-sponsored International Foundation for Electoral System program. It did not even seep into her brain that by posting a bail bond, she in effect submitted herself voluntarily to the jurisdiction of the Sandiganbayan, and that no amount of technicality could divest it of its jurisdiction to convict her even long after she has retired from public service.

Prudence should have prevailed upon her not to accept the appointment. That could have made her more honorable. Alas, she turned out to be another of those power-hungry politicians. In fact, the amount chipped in by PNoy for her bond set a bad precedent, and does not augur well of him as President. The decision to bail out a beleaguered subaltern is indicative of defiance, for strictly speaking, he could be made liable for culpable violation of the Constitution for using public funds to bail out a public official charged for corruption. The arrogance of this regime is blatant as if to tell the people nothing could prevent him from appointing anybody he wishes to appoint, irrespective of whether or not he/she has a pending case in court.

We are saying this not to pre-empt Padaca's right to be presumed innocent, but for the President to refrain from appointing one with a pending criminal case. In fact, no other president (including the non-lawyers we elected), dared to appoint into office one with a pending case, more so if it involves graft, or hesitated in firing or in not accepting their resignation.

Unfortunately, both the appointing authority and the appointee have the thickness of a carabao skin to be affected by decency, and both appear to be basking with arrogance. This now serves to remind us that as far as his horde of hypocrites are concerned, there is no other honest public official they could trust to implement their slogan of "ang matuwid na daan", except those that wear the dog tag of being identified with the yellow herd.

rpkapunan@gmail.com