JV Ejercito, Atienza ask SC to stop ‘heartless’ MRT, LRT fare increase
Video by RYAN LEAGOGO/INQUIRER.net
MANILA, Philippines–A new petition has been filed with the Supreme Court to stop the fare hike at the Metro Rail Transit (MRT) and Light Rail Transit (LRT).
Petitioners Senator Joseph Victor Ejercito, Buhay Partylist Rep. Lito Atienza together with other incumbent and former lawmakers and labor organizations accused the Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) of grave abuse of discretion in issuing Department Order (DO) No. 2014-014, dated December 18, 2014, that implements the hike, for failure to comply with the “publication, notice and hearing requirements.”
Rep. Gustavo Tambunting of 2nd district of Parañaque (left) and senator JV Ejercito. PHOTO by RYAN LEAGOGO/INQUIRER.net
Petitioners said the DO violates the constitutional provisions on due process (Section 1, Article III), social justice (Article XIII), full public disclosure (Section 28, Article II), people’s right to public information (Section 7, Article III), and the protection of workers’ rights and promotion of their welfare (Section 18, Article II).
“DOTC unilaterally proposed, approved and implemented the fare adjustment. Hence, DOTC has no authority to issue the assailed Department Order; it is therefore null and void,” the petition stated.
The assailed DO increased base fare from P10 to P11, and adopted a uniform distance-based fare scheme for LRT lines 1 and 2, and MRT line 3.
The petitioners also called the fare hike as “heartless” since majority of the commuters taking the LRT and MRT are employees, laborers, small workers and minimum and informal wage earners who can only afford to spend a small portion of their salary for transportation expense.
They added that the responsibility to protect the economically underprivileged from injustice and oppression was neglected when the government unilaterally implemented the fare adjustment.
Furthermore, the petitioners also registered that continuing maintenance problem besetting the MRT, which caused trip delays and breakdowns is one of the clear reasons that the implemented fare hike was inappropriate and unreasonable.
There are already several petitions against the fare adjustment with the high court but no TRO has been issued in favor of any of the petitioners.
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