If you happen to live or travel in the heart of Metro Manila, I will be surprised if you have not heard or ridden the infamous Light Rail Transit A (LRTA). It has been operating for almost three decades already but based on stories I heard from those who had the earliest encounters on its first operating season, the service and facilities have not really improved. I have been using the train for almost four years now and the only major improvements that I noticed is the addition of 3 more stations before Monumento terminal and the use of x-ray scanner on some stations.
Due to these changes, maintenance expenses increase and the administration then asked for an increase in fee because the government can no longer provide enough subsidies. The government approved the proposed increase yet chose to keep details of the increase for a moment. Since majority of its daily passengers are students, the alleged increase lead to protest from various state and private universities.
A sit-down protest against LRT fare hike
I understand the reasons behind the protest. I know how hard it is to manage the allowance given the kind of economic status that we have. However, let us also take into consideration that other (even poorer) regions of this archipelago are also subsidizing almost half of the official fee of each passenger for such a long time already – and from which they have very little (or no?) benefit. The standard fee is P48 but we are only paying P15. Remember, those who are mainly subsidizing us are from the far-flung regions that needed more educational, medical and agricultural subsidies.
How can we, people from the metro, attain to comfortablly escape the road congestion when we know that someone is toiling under the sun all day long just to subsidize our LRT fee? And still, many would wonder and question the kind of living in most provinces.
Let’s be considerate. The educational privilege that we have should enlighten us about the repercussions of its pursuance; that it would just worsen the economic situation in the agricultural regions because we let them invest on something where they do not earn something back. The country is not only about Manila and its people.
An OrCom thought: Let’s give them what they deserve. For almost three decades, we surely have had enough. And please, let’s listen to the government. Sometimes, they do know what they are doing.
orcom-matters by crespolui 