Get a truant ticket to ride

Manila – The Philippine capital’s decrepit train network will start issuing certificates of delay to tens of thousands who are late for work because of daily breakdowns, the government said yesterday.

With only seven trains for half-a-million passengers, Manila’s Metro Rail Transit (MRT) is a commuter’s nightmare and creaking locomotives stop mid-track increasingly frequently.

“This is a transparency measure,” transportation department spokesperson Michael Arthur Sagcal said. “People deserve to know what problems occurred – anything that could cause a stoppage: from a broken rail to air-conditioning that stopped working.”

The “incident report”, however, will only certify the cause of the delay and will not be worded as an excuse letter for tardiness, Sagcal said.

“It’s up to the requesting individual how to use it,” he said, when asked if the document could be used as an excuse letter.

Commuters walking on overhead rail tracks beside stalled trains have become a common sight in the packed city of 12 million people.

The decaying MRT is also dangerous. In August last year, dozens were injured after one train overshot its track and rammed into a busy highway.

A multibillion-dollar infrastructure overhaul plan by President Benigno Aquino has moved painfully slowly – and only one year remains before he steps down.

When it opened in the late nineties, the MRT had 20 running trains, each with three cabs, but years of neglect and wrangling between the government and its private partner have reduced this number to seven.

“We’re doing the best we can,” Sagcal said. –