No, the man wasn’t joking and this isn’t a satire piece.
“In an interview with GMA-7′s News To Go on Thursday morning, August 14, Metro Rail Transit (MRT) officer-in-charge Honorito Chaneco admitted that there is really a need for a system upgrade of the nearly 16-year-old train system, following Wednesday’s accident that injured at least 38 people,” reports Jomari Guillermo in Manila Bulletin.
Chaneco explained, “When I was assigned to the MRT two months ago, based on reports given to me, there is really a system problem because the whole system is already around 16 years old. Since it was established, the MRT never had a systems upgrade.”
READ: The official reason of MRT crash is complicated
Chaneco went on to point out that “since the MRT began its operations in 1999, it still uses the same system and same signaling.”
Despite this, Chaneco said, “We can assure the safety of the passengers. Yesterday, we were back to full operations.”
He said this was because the Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) “is now pushing programs to upgrade it, such as the acquisition of new coaches which will be delivered by 2016.”
Photo from WikiCommons
