Aquino offers no apology for MRT woes in final Sona
Instead of apologizing, President Benigno Aquino III on Monday blamed the Metro Rail Transit Corp. (MRTC) for the sorry state of the Metro Rail Transit (MRT) in the country.
Aquino said there should have been an overhaul of the MRT in 2008 but after a review of the Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC), only cosmetic changes had been made.
MRT 3 became operational in July 2000 under a 25-year build-lease-transfer (BLT) contract DOTC and MRTC, owned by the Sobrepeña family of the Fil-Estate group, and Metro Pacific Investments Corp.
“Sa pagwalang bahalang ito, parang ginarantiyahang masisira ang train. Hindi po ba maski sinong kumpanya dapat sinisigurong masusulit ang kanilang investment pero hinayaan lang nilang lumala nang lumala ang sitwasyon hanggang umabot sa puntong ipinasa na sa atin ng ura-urada ang pagsasaayos ng MRT,” the President said in his last State of the Nation Address on Monday.
Article continues after this advertisement(The ruin of the train has been guaranteed because of their negligence. Other companies would make sure that their investment is worth it, but they just let the situation get worse until they just passed it onto us in its sorry state and expect us to fix the MRT right away.)
Article continues after this advertisement“Nang aayusin na natin, at inaayos na natin bigla naman silang humirit. Sila na naman daw ulit pero ang mungkahi nilang pagsasayos, ‘di hamak na mas mahal kesa sa ating plano. Syempre katumbas nito dagdag na gastos at perwisyo sa taumbayan,” he said.
(When we were about to fix the MRT, they again said that they would fix it. But their suggestion is more expensive than our plan. Of course, this entails additional cost and inconvenience to the people.)
And when the government moved to purchase new MRT coaches, Aquino said the MRTC got a temporary restraining order to stop the purchase.
The President was certain that the government’s agenda would not meet with the MRTC’s.
Despite this, he said, the government is now in process of obtaining new MRT rails as well as the upgrading of the signaling and automatic fare collecting system.
“May mga nagsasabi nga po na may blinders daw ako para sa taong matagal na nating kasama sa daang matuwid. Ako, mula’t sa maganda pero batid din natin ang mga hindi maganda,” Aquino said.
(I have been told that I had blinders for those who have been with me on the “straight path” for a long time. I can see the, but I also see the bad.)
“Ako ba ang may blinders o itong mga pangit lang ang nakikita?” he asked.
(Am I the one who has blinders and not those who can only see the bad?)
Before this, some groups have called on the President to apologize during his Sona on the sorry state of mass public transportation system in the county. IDL
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