{"id":234061,"date":"2019-10-09T23:56:55","date_gmt":"2019-10-10T03:56:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=234061"},"modified":"2019-10-09T23:56:55","modified_gmt":"2019-10-10T03:56:55","slug":"mass-transport-problems-solvable-palace","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2019\/10\/09\/mass-transport-problems-solvable-palace\/","title":{"rendered":"Mass transport problems \u2018solvable\u2019: Palace"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
Presidential Spokesperson Salvador Panelo stood by his remark that there is no mass transport crisis after critics said he was insensitive to the daily plight of commuters. (File Photo:<\/a> Chris Griffin\/Flickr<\/a>, CC BY-NC-ND 2.0<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

MANILA<\/strong>\u00a0— There is no mass transport crisis in Metro Manila because there is no \u201cmass transit paralysis\u201d and that glitches in the country\u2019s train systems are \u201csolvable\u201d, Malaca\u00f1ang said on Wednesday<\/p>\n

Presidential Spokesperson Salvador Panelo stood by his remark that there is no mass transport crisis after critics said he was insensitive to the daily plight of commuters.<\/p>\n

He denied being unaware of the gravity of the problem, saying that he simply meant that despite glitches in the country\u2019s train systems and the Sept. 30 nationwide transport strike, commuters were still able to reach their respective destinations.<\/p>\n

\u201cJust because I disagree with the leftist organization\u2019s theory on the existence of a mass transport crisis does not mean that I am unaware of the vexing daily commute, as well as the burden caused by the worsening traffic conditions in Manila,\u201d Panelo said in a statement.<\/p>\n

\u201cI 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,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

He also emphasized that \u201cperennial problems\u201d in traffic and the country\u2019s train stations are the products of many years of neglect by previous administrations.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe present traffic woes and inadequate mass transit system have been the bane of our people, more specifically those living and working in Metro Manila. These perennial problems are a carry-over of two previous administrations, and inherited by the present one,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

Solutions<\/strong><\/p>\n

For Panelo, the current transport problems are \u201csolvable\u201d because the LRT and MRT management are already \u201cdoing something\u201d about them.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat is why we are rehabilitating the MRT-3, building the Metro Manila Subway, MRT-7, Common Station, LRT-1 Cavite Extension and PNR (Philippine National Railway) Clark, among others,\u201d Panelo said.<\/p>\n

Panelo pointed out that he even called the attention of the management and that they should \u201cdo more\u201d in providing efficient service to the public.<\/p>\n

Moreover, he said the Duterte administration has also requested for emergency powers from Congress since the start of his term, which has yet to be granted.<\/p>\n

The Senate, in particular, has been hesitant to grant emergency powers to President Rodrigo Roa Duterte over corruption concerns, insisting that there are already laws and policies to speed up government\u2019s transport projects.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis administration wanted to address the same immediately but Congress opted not to grant the President the emergency powers he asked from it at the inception of his presidency to solve it,\u201d Panelo said.<\/p>\n

The Palace official also slammed critics for neglecting the administration\u2019s current efforts to fix the transport problems.<\/p>\n

Panelo acknowledged the daily suffering of the commuters as \u201ca given\u201d but assured that the Duterte administration will not allow this to be constant and permanent.<\/p>\n

\u201cEveryone who commutes or drives suffers every day 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,\u201d Panelo said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

MANILA\u00a0— There is no mass transport crisis in Metro Manila because there is no \u201cmass transit paralysis\u201d and that glitches …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":234062,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,95],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-234061","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news","category-news-ph","mauthors-azer-parrocha","mauthors-philippine-news-agency"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/234061","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=234061"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/234061\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":234063,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/234061\/revisions\/234063"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/234062"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=234061"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=234061"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=234061"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}