Panelo accepts challenge to commute to work
Credit to Author: CATHERINE S. VALENTE, TMT| Date: Thu, 10 Oct 2019 02:41:02 +0000
PRESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte’s spokesman has accepted the challenge for him commute, in light of his statement denying the existence of a transportation crisis in Metro Manila.
In a text message, Palace spokesman Salvador Panelo said he would take the jeep and then the Light Rail Transit (LRT) to Malacañang on Friday.
“The challenge to commute is accepted. This coming Friday I’ll take the Jeepney and the LRT in going to work,” Panelo said.
Kilusang Mayo Uno has challenged Panelo to take public transportation, a day after he refuted claims that Metro Manila was facing a transportation crisis as all its three railway systems bogged down last week.
Three stations of the LRT-2 may remain closed for nine months after a fire hit its power transformer on Thursday, the same day that LRT-1 halted trips in two stations over “mechanical issues.”
A Metro Rail Transit (MRT) Line 3 train, meanwhile, bogged down on Wednesday, forcing scores of passengers to walk on rail tracks.
In a statement on Wednesday, Panelo said that while he was aware of the “vexing daily commute” in Manila, there was no transport crisis because “there is no mass transit paralysis.”
“I stand by my statement: There is no mass transport crisis. The crisis is in the sufferance of commuters and motorists; while the other crisis is in the inefficient operation and maintenance of the LRTs – the crisis is in its poor management,” Panelo said.
“We will not allow it to be constant and permanent. Everyone who commutes or drives suffers everyday but solutions to solve it are not insuperable, and this administration is doing its best to provide not just immediate but also long-term solutions,” he added.
Panelo will not be the first Duterte’s spokesman to commute to work. His predecessor, former Palace spokesman Harry Roque Jr, took the MRT and LRT to work in 2017.