{"id":234072,"date":"2019-10-10T00:28:58","date_gmt":"2019-10-10T04:28:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=234072"},"modified":"2019-10-10T00:28:58","modified_gmt":"2019-10-10T04:28:58","slug":"panelo-accepts-challenge-to-commute-to-work","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2019\/10\/10\/panelo-accepts-challenge-to-commute-to-work\/","title":{"rendered":"Panelo accepts challenge to commute to work"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Panelo said he will commute from his home to Malaca\u00f1ang in San Miguel, Manila on Friday (Oct. 11). (File: Screengrab from Video<\/a>: Office of the Presidential Spokesperson\/Facebook<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

MANILA<\/strong>\u00a0— After initially rejecting a youth group\u2019s dare to take mass transport to experience the daily plight of commuters, Presidential Spokesperson Salvador Panelo said he will accept the challenge.<\/p>\n

Panelo said he will commute from his home to Malaca\u00f1ang in San Miguel, Manila on Friday (Oct. 11).<\/p>\n

\u201cThe challenge to commute is accepted. This coming Friday I\u2019ll take the jeepney and the LRT (Light Rail Transit) in going to work,\u201d Panelo said in a text message to reporters.<\/p>\n

Earlier, Panelo brushed aside the dare as \u201csilly\u201d saying that \u201cthe road in going to work and returning home or going elsewhere in Metro Manila is a given\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhether you commute or drive, one is subjected to the same vexing inconvenience and delay, as well as the loss of precious time,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

On Tuesday, Anakbayan dared Panelo, President Rodrigo Duterte, Transportation Secretary Art Tugade, and Manila Metropolitan Development Authority (MMDA) Celine Pialago to \u201ccommute to work every day for a week to experience the hellish reality of our everyday commute\u201d.<\/p>\n

Anakbayan\u2019s challenge came after Panelo denied Bayan Secretary-General Renato Reyes Jr.\u2019s claim that Metro Manila is facing a \u201cmass transport crisis\u201d after three train systems encountered glitches.<\/p>\n

In a statement, Panelo insisted that there is no mass transport crisis because the problems were \u201csolvable\u201d and that commuters are still able to reach their respective destinations.<\/p>\n

He said government is currently rehabilitating the country\u2019s mass transport systems and called the attention of the management to \u201cdo more\u201d in providing efficient service to the public.<\/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

The Department of Transportation (DOTr) also denied that there is a mass transport crisis but admitted that there are \u201ctransport issues and problems\u201d that are currently being addressed.<\/p>\n

Infrastructure projects under construction are the Metro Manila Subway, Metro Rail Transit Line 7 (MRT-7), Light Rail Transit Line 1 (LRT-1) Cavite Extension, LRT-2 East Extension, Philippine National Railways (PNR) Clark Phase 1, Common Station, PNR Calamba, PNR Bicol, LRT-2 West Extension, Subic-Clark Railway, and the Mindanao Railway.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

MANILA\u00a0— After initially rejecting a youth group\u2019s dare to take mass transport to experience the daily plight of commuters, Presidential …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":232618,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1145,16,95],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-234072","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headline","category-news","category-news-ph","mauthors-azer-parrocha","mauthors-philippine-news-agency"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/234072","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=234072"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/234072\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":234073,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/234072\/revisions\/234073"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/232618"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=234072"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=234072"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=234072"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}