(Eagle News) — The Metro Rail Transit-3 on Wednesday, June 3, clarified it does not have a policy on the absolute prohibition of the boarding of members of highly vulnerable sectors, including senior citizens, as claimed by the Commission on Human Rights.
In a statement, the MRT-3 said it allows susceptible individuals to board the train provided their purpose for using the same was “indispensable under the circumstances for obtaining essential goods and services, or for work in permitted industries and offices.”
It said its protocols are aligned with the guidelines of the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID) which, although state that persons who are highly at risk of contracting COVID-19, including those who are 60 years old and above, should stay at home, cite those working and obtaining essential goods as exceptions.
“MRT-3 assures its adherence to IATF’s general guidelines for the riding public in terms of mass transportation. We have the best interest of our passengers at heart. We remain emphatic and sensitive to their needs, while balancing their health and welfare,” the MRT-3 said.
“We ask for our passengers’ understanding as we endeavor to serve and keep everyone safe,” it added.
Earlier, the CHR urged the Department of Transportation to revisit the supposed ban, saying it could be discriminatory.
“There is no telling how this could later result in individually-imposed restrictions, such as by tricycle, jeepney, and bus operators and drivers. This policy, as benign as its justification may be, may result in individual acts of discrimination,” CHR Commissioner Karen Gomez-Dumpit had said.
