The Metro Railway Transit (MRT-3) said it will provide excuse slips to commuters who will arrive late to school or work because of disruptions in the train system.
But even in getting the incident report stating the date, time, reason and location where the problem took place, affected passengers will still have to wait for at least four to five days to secure the document.
The move of the MRT management was quickly criticized by militant and commuters’ groups, saying issuing excuse slips would not solve the problems faced by the riding public every day.
“This would not fix the problem. The institutional acceptance of the MRT-3’s failures as a privatized utility would not make the trains any more efficient. You do not put a band-aid over a stab wound,” said James Relativo, spokesman of the commuters’ group Train Riders Network.
Bayan-Muna partylist Rep. Carlos Zarate called the measure a “pathetic way of evading the real issue.”
“Other countries such as Japan and the US had practiced the system of giving out excuse slips for tardy passengers, where the wintry weather or malfunctions cause occasional delays on train operations. However, here in the Philippines, where the problem is the maintenance and the meager number of trains, being late for work is an everyday situation for MRT commuters. I could imagine they would be swamped by requests for excuse letters if this becomes a practice,” Zarate said.
The militant group Bagong Alyansang Makabayan scored the transportation department for insulting commuters with “non-solutions” to the problems besetting the MRT-3.
“The DOTC seems to look at commuters as kids in need of excuse letters when they are running late. The move is downright insulting. Commuters do not need excuse slips. They need improved train services,” Bayan secretary-general Renato Reyes Jr. said.
The MRT management said it will not issue incident reports to commuters who were delayed because of the long lines if they did not experience unexpected problems or technical glitches.
“For us, it is our way to be transparent. If they (passengers) requested for the incident report on what is the status of the MRT, there’s no problem with that. We will provide them accurate report,” Sagcal said in a television interview.
The Department of Labor and Employment said it is up to the employers if they would accept the MRT incident report as an excuse letter for late employees.
The MRT-3 line serves 13 stations along EDSA from North Avenue to Pasay City and ferries close to 600,000 passengers daily.