MetroBriefs

Car rams into train, driver dead

The Philippine National Railways (PNR) is reminding the public that its trains are already up and running so Metro Manila residents should be careful when crossing railway tracks or risk damaging property or their lives. The warning comes after a  Honda Civic on Friday rammed into a southbound PNR commuter train at a railroad crossing in Posadas, Parañaque City. Initial reports showed  the car’s driver had ignored the crossing keeper’s signal to stop and the warning horn of the oncoming train. While none of the train’s passengers were hurt, the car driver,  Archemedes Arboleda, died on impact. “From the impact of the collision, the car was thrown all the way to the other side of tracks which blocked northbound trains, causing some delays in train schedules in both directions,” the PNR management said in a statement. “Regrettably, until such accidents happen, motorists crossing our tracks do not grasp the gravity of the danger that they face when they disregard warnings of on-coming trains,” PNR General Manager Junio Ragragrio said. Unlike road cars, Ragragrio said a PNR train needs at least 30 seconds and 100 meters of cleared track before coming to a full stop. “Thus if a vehicle is within 100 meters of a breaking train, it will still be hit possibly with fatal consequences to passenger,” he said. Despite the state’s limited resources, he said the PNR management has been doing all the necessary safety precautions to avoid any untoward incident to motorists and commuters alike in the 40 crossings straddling its tracks. This situation is aggravated by illegal railroad crossings installed along the tracks without the PNR’s permission or even knowledge.The PNR currently operates a commuter train line from Tutuban, Manila to Alabang, Muntinlupa City. It also recently revived the so-called “Bicol Express” train line from Manila to Naga City. Paolo G. Montecillo

San Juan residents won’t give up homes without a fight

RESIDENTS  of the contested land in Barangay Corazon de Jesus in San Juan City said Friday they would not leave their houses without a fight as they anticipate another wave of demolition operations starting Monday, coinciding with the celebration of the Feast of the Black Nazarene. “We are ready to fight,” Arnold Repique, president of the residents’ association Sandigan ng Maralitang Nagkakaisa (Samana) said,  adding that several posters were seen on Friday in Barangay Corazon de Jesus telling them to leave within three days or else they would be forcibly evacuated. “They even scheduled it on the Feast of the Black Nazarene. It was a tactic of the local government to draw the attention away  from the demolition,” Repique said. Since June 2010, a series of demolition operations  had been carried out by the local government to pave the way for the construction of a six-story city hall on the 1.6 hectare lot near Pinaglabanan Shrine in Barangay Corazon de Jesus. According to the residents’ association, around 2, 000 families have been affected by the government’s move. Grace Cortez-Pardines, San Juan’s public information chief, denied that there  would be  a demolition on Monday but admitted there was a  plan to rid the government property of illegal settlers by the end of the month. “We have been warned by the National Housing Authority that it would give our lots to other settlers if these would not be occupied by the end of the month,” she said. According to her, only 123 families would be transferred to a resettlement site in Montalban, Rizal province in the final phase of the relocation. “There are more living there. But they themselves know that they are illegal settlers,” she said. Repique said around 500 families may be affected in the last wave of demolitions and warned the city government that the remaining families would not easily give up their homes. Niña Calleja