Mistulang kinunsinte ng isang kongresista ang kapabayaan ni Transportation Secretary Arthur Tugade matapos ipanukala na bigyan ng insurance ang madidisgrasya sa MRT-3 at iba pang tren sa bansa.
Noong Martes, inihain ni Aangat Tayo Party-list Rep. Neil Abayon ang House Bill 6680 para masakop ng insurance ang mga pasahero ng tren.
Kapag naisabatas, inaasahang masasakop ng insurance ang lahat ng mga biktima na naiipit sa mga disgrasya sa light rail at railway transport sa bansa.
“The Department of Transportation (DOTr) cannot keep on drawing money from its discretionary funds to pay for hospitalization and recovery expenses of victims.
Considering how frequent the accidents and failure incidents are happening, that would be unwise management of public funds. Insurance is the appropriate long-term solution,” pahayag ni Abayon.
Habang inaasikaso umano ng DOTr at nilalapatan ng lunas ang samu’t saring problema sa MRT, PNR, at LRT mahalaga aniya na maprotektahan ang kapakanan ng mga pasahero.
“No man-made system can ever be perfect or 100 percent efficient. There will be incidents and accidents (two different things) and that is why there must be insurance. There are different ways to go about this. One way is via micro insurance on a per passenger per trip basis. Another way is for the different rail firms to get insurance covering their entire networks,” paliwanag ni Abayon.