THE Philippine National Railways should not pass the burden to the commuters due to the failure of the Department of Transportation and Communication to do its ‘homework,’ Senator JV Ejercito said on Wednesday.
Ejercito said the government should be responsible for coming out with effective plans and measures for the PNR through sufficient allocation of funds.
“I am sad that the DOTC is not doing his job for the PNR,” said Ejercito, chairman of the public services sub-committee on transportation that is looking into the viability of the rehabilitation and modernization of PNR.
Ejercito said he was aware that PNR originally asked for P11 billion in budget, but was given only P2.2 billion in 2015.
Because of the lack of funds, PNR is seeking to impose additional fare to their passengers.
PNR earlier proposed to increase its lowest fare of P10.00 to P15.00 and from P45.00 to P60.00 maximum fare enroute to Calamba, Laguna from Tutuban Station in Manila.
“It’s not right to exact additional fare since the PNR commuters are already burdened countrymen,” said Ejercito.
He said majority of the PNR train riders are ordinary workers, employees, salesperson, the urban poor, students and minimum wage earners.
Just like the MRT and LRT, Ejercito also said PNR should improve first their services to the public to justify whatever demand they will make like the increase in train fare.
`He pointed out that it is the responsibility of the government to allocate enough funds for mass transportation that will benefit the public.
He said there is no question that the PNR facilities need to be rehabilitated and modernized because they are for the need of the public and the country. But since the funds given to them by the DOTC is not enough, they are now resorting to a fare hike to bankroll the expenses for these operations.
Ejercito demanded an explanation from the DOTC on the actions taken to address the operational requirements of the PNR.