CLARK CITY, Pampanga — Citing public inconvenience and damages, Department of Transportation (DOTr) Secretary Arthur Tugade on Sunday directed the management of the MRT-3 to identify the passenger that caused an unloading incident by leaning on or forcibly opening the train door Friday morning, April 13.
In a speech before business groups and investors at the Philippine Economic Briefing in Pampanga, Tugade expressed his disappointment over a passenger that caused the failure of the door of a southbound train at 8:01 a.m., which resulted in the unloading of approximately 1,000 passengers at the Santolan-Annapolis station.
This was the first unloading incident recorded at the MRT-3 since April 2.
“For the last 11 days, there was no unloading, it was smooth. Today, we have the first unloading. Do you know the cause? There was someone who put pressure on the door. Pinilit na pumasok habang sarado na. It’s not about parts, it’s about this passenger. My instruction, identify this person,” Tugade said.
He also wants charges filed against passengers who will disrupt train operations.
“From now on, lahat ng mahuhuling sumasandal o nagpipilit magbukas ng pinto ng tren kahit sarado na, kasuhan! I told MRT to file cases and collect damages from them. Maraming naaabala dahil sa kawalan ng disiplina,” he added.
Passengers were loaded in the next train that arrived four minutes later. Despite this, MRT-3 was still able to deploy 15 trains at the mainline.
The MRT-3 has been consistently running 15-17 trains daily, an improvement attributed to the arrival of spare parts and general maintenance conducted over the Holy Week. (PR)
