KALIBUTAN By CLEMENTE BAUTISTA Bulatlat.com Stuck for hours on the road from early morning to nearly midnight, Metro Manila commuters had a very frustrating experience September 5, when traffic stood at a standstill from Manila City to Bulacan province. With an hour of thunderstorm with heavy rains just this October 1, we saw yet another…
By BENJIE OLIVEROS Bulatlat perspective Privatization, by whatever name – Build-Operate-Transfer or Public-Private Partnerships – was touted to be the solution to the inefficient, monopolistic management by government of public utilities and services. It was supposed to be the opposite of how the dictator Marcos monopolized and profited from basic utilities such as electricity, water,…
The LRT privatization deal has been dubbed by Bayan and commuter groups such as the RILES Network as the “great train robbery.”
MANILA — In a protest rally on various train stations all over Metro Manila this Monday, consumers group, #StrikeTheHike and progressive coalition, Bagong Alyansang Makabayan-National Capital Region (BAYAN-NCR) added another form of protest against the looming implementation of the P10 fare hikes on MRT and LRT. People opposed to train fare hikes who cannot attend…
“The Aquino government has kept on trying to implement this fare hike but has failed to actually implement one. It knows how badly this will affect the public and how this will make the public really angry at the government.”
By MARYA SALAMAT
The RILES Network said Aquino actually has choices for solving the LRT-1 problems, without resorting to privatization.
By ANNE MARXZE D. UMIL
The fare for public utility jeepneys, toll fees of the South and North Luzon Expressways, and water rates have increased, and soon to be followed by an increase in the fare of the MRT and LRT train lines. These are accompanied by weekly increases in the pump prices of oil.
By MARYA SALAMAT
President Benigno Aquino III boldly declared during his first State of the Nation Address that public-private partnerships would be the solution to the government’s lack of funds and the need to develop the country’s infrastructure. But at whose expense?