Yan na nga ba ang sinasabi sa hula. NEGOSYANTE na gusto ay kumita ng malaki at hindi ang makapagsilbi sa bayan. PPP pa more! Grace Poe finally saw PNoy’s true colors January 6, 2015 7:25 pm . . . By Erwin Tulfo “Totally insensitive and treacherous.” I agree that those words precisely describes the Aquino administration’s attitude toward the sad plight of the riding public that depends on the Metro Rail Transit (MRT) and the Light Rail Transit (LRT) lines in their daily commute. No less than the amiable Senator Grace Poe made the succinct depiction of PNoy’s style of mismanagement over these four-plus years, beginning June 2010. Insensitive because PNoy and the brains behind him do not seem to care about the working class’ extreme difficulty coping with the costs of living, much less make ends meet what with the prevailing starvation wages. Ironically, Malacañang surreptitiously tells the Department of Transportation and Communication (DOTC) Sec. Jun Abaya to raise the MRT and LRT fare rates while jeepney fares are going down, thanks to OPEC’s reduced world oil prices. I suspect that for the sake of enticing private entities to buy out the MRT under the public-private partnership (PPP) program, the brains behind PNoy came up with this brilliant idea of finally raising the fares to create a semblance profitability for the MRT. They reject the idea that MRT along EDSA is an essential public utility system that the government must continue to subsidize. Insensitive, says Senator Poe, because the brains behind PNoy do not seem to realize that somehow they have to justify higher fares with improvements in the train services and facilities. But, the services and facilities are much worse now than their condition during the Arroyo administration, which PNoy blames for everything that is wrong with it. Senator Poe said the MRT fare hike, in particular, is not justifiable since Congress has just allocated funds for the “special purpose” of the trains’ repairs and other financial needs in the P2.6 trillion 2015 budget. “Kakatapos lang ng budget kung saan nabigyan naman sila ng tamang budget para sa taon na ito, para naman magawa ang dapat nilang gawin sa MRT,” she said. The senator noted, too, that additional funds have been allocated for the same purpose under the freaking Supplemental Budget passed just like a “midnight insertion.” “Hindi lang iyon, marami pang naibigay sa supplemental budget, sa pagbayad ng buwis nila na hindi nila nababayran, at ibang mga bagay na hiningi nila sa Kongreso. Kaya kami ay nagtataka kasi ni pabulong wala silang sinabi sa amin na baka magtaas sila.” Poe scored the very poor maintenance of the MRT which leads to frequent breakdowns. But as always, PNoy and the brains that dictate to him from behind conveniently blame everything on the previous Gloria Arroyo and her cronies. Was it Arroyo who was involved in the botched deal on procuring new trains for the MRT, which turned out to be an attempt to corner a multi-million peso kickback from a Czechoslovakian firm Inekon? Or wasn’t it some Malacañang official’s relatives that tried to cash in on the MRT deal? Utterly treacherous because Malacañang shrewdly timed the implementation of fare hikes before the holidays ended. Senator Poe noted that the DOTC deliberately ruled out holding any public hearing. “Ito ay ginawa nila na hindi malinaw sa atin at kung kailan nga hindi natin inaasahan. Ito ay treacherous, insensitive. Kasi kung meron silang puso sa pasahero, hindi po dapat nangyari iyan,” Poe said. Merciless, Senator Poe says of PNoy and the brains behind him who do not seem to care about the aggravation that the higher MRT and LRT rates causes to low-income workers and poor students and senior citizens who now have to resort to taking the jeepney during rush hours. Most people who are used to riding the MRT and LRT chose to take the trains to avoid the traffic gridlock. Suffice it to say that the PNoy, in his inability to think for himself, has allowed those utak-ipis behind him to screw up bigtime. Unfortunately for the desperate Liberal Party (LP), Senator Poe finally found out PNoy’s and his administration’s true colors. I am now more convinced that Senator Poe far knows what she’s doing and what she has been elected to the Senate for. Senator Poe has done her assignment and has proven that she is up to the task. etulfo2011@yahoo
Posted on: Thu, 08 Jan 2015 23:57:28 +0000