Reports about the assembly of the new light rail vehicles (LRVs) for MRT-3 on August 21 started credit-grabbing issues once more.
A fan page dedicated to President Rodrigo Duterte, called “Rodrigo Roa Duterte – The Greatest,” thanked the President and his Cabinet for their “quick actions,” possibly referring to the traffic problem in Metro Manila.
“Salamat po sa Cabinet ni PD30 kilos agad, maraming salamat Sir! We all pinoy salute sa tunay na pagbabago,” the fan page admin wrote.
“Ipasagasa ang dating Pangulo at si Abaya para matupad pangako nila, tapos ilibing sa hero cemetery bago si Marcos para mauna siya,” the admin added, completing the post with a #PartnerForChange.
The post also included a link to an ABS-CBN report about the assembly and installation of new LRVs for MRT-3 to ease the travel time of commuters. They were installed at the MRT Taft station.
Contrary to what the fan page claimed as the Duterte Cabinet’s effort to get the new LRVs to the country, those LRVs were actually a part of MRT-3’s capacity expansion project launched under the administration of former President Benigno Aquino. Its goal is to “substantially ease MRT-3 systems’ congestion by boosting system capacity to over 800,000 daily passengers.”
The project ordered 48 LRVs ordered by the Department of Transportation and Communication (DOTC) (now called Department of Transportation or DOTr) under the previous administration from Dalian Locomotive and Rolling Stock Co. of China.
According to the DOTC press release on January 18, 2016, after the arrival of the first four of the 48 LRVs they ordered, “four (4) per month will be shipped from March until January 2017.”
This meant that what the Duterte fan page thanked the President for was actually something that Aquino and his administration did for the MRT-3 commuters. As for the current administration, Duterte’s office is still waiting for its request for emergency powers for the traffic crisis to be granted by Congress.
Sources: (news.abs-cbn.com, philstar.com, dotc.gov.ph, gmanetwork.com)
Be Informed. Beat the Trolls, Share the Truth!
[ads3]
