Don’t give malice to free train rides in election season - Palace

Metro Manila, Philippines - Malacañang asked the public on Wednesday, April 30, to avoid imputing malice on the free train rides for four days to mark Labor Day, in response to critics calling out the freebie in an election season.

In a press briefing, Communications Undersecretary Claire Castro defended the government’s move, which came two weeks before the midterm polls and amid President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s declining trust and performance ratings.

“Ang May 1 po kasi International Labor Day po ito. Hindi naman po natin puwedeng ibigay ito sa mga manggagawa sa December,” said Castro.

“Huwag naman po nating bigyan ng malisya. Hayaan po nating makinabang iyong taumbayan sa mga maaaring itulong ng gobyerno sa kanila,” she added.

[Translation: May 1 is International Labor Day. We can't really give this holiday to the workers in December…Let's not interpret it with malice. Let's allow the people to benefit from whatever assistance the government can provide them.]

Castro said the free ride is for four days to allow commuters to take advantage of the freebie beyond the holiday, when most people don’t go to work.

This is the first time that the government is waiving the already-subsidized train fares for an extended period for reasons outside maintenance work.

P80 million revenue loss

In an interview on Wednesday, Transportation Secretary Vince Dizon said the offer will result in an estimated P80-million revenue loss.

In LRT-1 alone, which is operated by the private joint venture Light Rail Manila Corp., he said revenue loss may hit P40 million.

“DOTr will shoulder the revenue losses. Kasi ang LRT-1 ay private operated na...Kung iisipin mo naman sa laki ng ginhawa ng ating mga manggagawa, ng ating mga pasahero e malaking bagay iyan,” said Dizon.

[Translation: The DOTr will shoulder the revenue losses since the LRT-1 is now privately operated. If you think about it, considering the great relief this brings to our workers and commuters, it really makes a big difference.]

There was no explanation where the agency will source the money to cover the losses.

The transportation chief said up to 3.5 million passengers may benefit from the waived fares.

He added that the government plans to offer the four-day free ride yearly.

Meanwhile, Dizon said the agency is looking at scheduling the pilot run of a cashless scheme in MRT stations in June in partnership with an e-wallet entity.

“‘Yung GCash mo sa telepono ita-tap mo pwede na. Kung meron kang credit card pwede na gamitin yan. So magiging kamukha na sa ibang bansa,” he said.

[You can just tap your GCash on your phone, it’ll work. If you have a credit card, you can use that too. So it will be similar to what they have in other countries.]