Davao traders ask: Why pay for MRT woes?

DAVAO CITY, Philippines—Several business leaders are questioning why Mindanao taxpayers are being made to pay for the government subsidy of the Metro Rail Transit (MRT) in Manila, when those using its trains are people there and not from Mindanao.

Antonio de la Cruz, head of Davao City Chamber of Commerce and Industries, described the whole arrangement as “unfair” and “unjustifiable.”

“It has been an old issue and, indeed, it is not fair and it is not justifiable,” De la Cruz said. He said he had heard complaints about it long before he headed the Davao-based business group.

A national consumers group said Transportation Secretary Joseph Emilio Abaya should explain why funds appeared to be being wasted in the MRT.

In a statement, the National Coalition of Filipino Consumers (NCFC) said Abaya should follow the lead of Budget Secretary Florencio Abad, who went to the University of the Philippines (UP) to explain the controversial Disbursement Acceleration Program. Abad ended up being physically harassed by activists.

“The DOTC (Department of Transportation and Communications) chief should take the ‘UP challenge’ so he could explain why the MRT is in such a sorry state and what the agency is doing to fix it,” said the group’s lawyer, Oliver San Antonio.

According to De la Cruz, the MRT subsidy is made more questionable by the way authorities are running the railway. “Given all this talk about corruption and very bad service, we would like to demand that they exclude Mindanao taxpayers from subsidizing these services,” he said.

The NCFC said an appearance by top DOTC officials at UP would be a chance “to explain how, in front of the most critical and cynical audience in the country,” the MRT was being managed.

“The public should know what is expected of the maintenance providers,” San Antonio said. Reports from Germelina Lacorte, Inquirer Mindanao, and Jerome Aning in Manila