Last year, Senator Grace Poe ride the MRT Fand took note of the riders’ daily travails ahead of the Senate inquiry into the state of the public transport system. photo: Office of Sen. Grace Poe
Exactly one year had passed since a Metro Rail Transit Line 3 (MRT) train derailed and rammed through a barrier at the Edsa-Taft Station in Pasay City, but for Sen. Grace Poe, government action is still very slow when it comes to maintaining and improving country’s deteriorating railway system.
READ: MRT train skids, rams Taft station; 38 injured
Poe, chair of the Senate committee on public order, said she was not contented with what the MRT management and concerned government agencies had done over the past year.
“I think it’s still very slow. Para sa akin, mas marami pa sana silang magagawa pa. Kaya nga ipapatawag ko ulit sila sa hearing kapag na-deliver na ‘yung prototype na sinasabi nila kasi marami dun sa kanilang mga target deliveries hindi pa naman nabibigay,” Poe said in an ambush interview.
(For me, they could have done more. That’s why I will call them again to a hearing once the prototype has been delivered. Many in their target deliveries has yet to arrive.)
“Hindi talaga ako kuntento sa kanilang ginagawang trabaho (I’m not satisfied on the job they’re doing),” she added, noting the importance of “long-term” maintenance.
On August 13, 2014, at least 38 people were sent to hospital after a southbound MRT train overshot the railway and broke through the barrier of Taft Avenue station. The Department of Transportation and Communications blamed human error for the accident.
READ: DOTC: Human error blamed for MRT-3 accident; 4 trains workers face raps | MRT drivers explain train derailment
Poe said she has a lot of questions in mind in connection with the MRT, which has raised a lot of serious safety concerns in the past months, including the proposed “common station” and the present status of its maintenance contract.
“Maraming questions dito sa MRT. Pati ‘yung common station na masyado nang na-delay na dati pa dapat natapos, anong nangyari doon? Totoo bang kailangan pang maglakad ng six meters na parang disjointed ang ating mga pasahero?” she asked.
(There are so many questions about the MRT. Even the [construction of the] common station has long been delayed, which should have been finished a long time ago. What happened? Is it true that one needs to walk six meters, our passengers disjointed?)
“Ano na ba ng nangyari dito sa maintenance provider natin, sino na ang ating maintenance provider at ano ang gagawin natin sa long term maintenance ng ating MRT?” the senator added.
(What happend to our maintenance provider? Who is our maintenance provider? What are we going to do for the long maintenance of the MRT?)
Poe has previously expressed her dismay over President Benigno Aquino III’s failure to acknowledge the hardships of MRT riders during his last State of the Nation Address in July.
“I’m not accusing the President of anything but I think the people he appointed there have shortcomings. Those who were appointed in the DOTC from the start until now,” Poe said in Filipino.
READ: Poe disappointed at Aquino for skipping FOI, MRT woes in Sona