No zombies in these trains

Guests at the “Bulong Pulungan sa Sofitel” could not resist repeated references to zombies, the real stars of the Korean movie “Train to Busan.” This was because the media forum featured a panel of officials of Busan Universal Rail Inc. (Buri), a consortium of four Filipino firms and Busan Railways that won a P3.8-billion bid in 2016 for the maintenance of the MRT-3 line.

Buri is in the news because an official of the Department of Transportation, Undersecretary for Railways Cesar Chavez, has threatened the consortium with a cancellation of its contract with the DOTr unless it fulfills its obligations to turn over 17 light rail cars and explain satisfactorily the various “glitches” that have marred the MRT’s operations recently.

In a presentation, Buri corporate secretary and legal counsel Charles Perfecto Mercado showed that the other rail maintenance companies (for LRT1 and LR2) have racked up more “incidents” and yet have not been subjected to the same degree of scrutiny as Buri.

“This is because we operate on Edsa,” said Mercado, when asked why Buri seemed to be singled out for censure. MRT-3 is thus the busiest of the light rail lines operating in Metro Manila, serving the biggest number of passengers (about 350,000 a day), covering the longest distance, and certainly garnering the most attention from officials and the riding public alike.

Mercado points out that Buri’s contract only covers maintenance of the system, the overhaul of units, and total replacement of the signaling system. Issues like the long queues (“although to be fair, the beep cards have helped a lot”) and maintenance of escalators and elevators lie beyond its area of responsibility.

The Buri officials insist that their bottom line is the safety and convenience of the millions of passengers that use the rails, a sentiment undoubtedly shared by DOTr officials. Given this common goal, perhaps dialogue and meaningful negotiations would serve everyone’s interests.

About the most anticipated sight at the end of every international summit is the photo op or “class picture” of the various heads of state attending.

I for one look forward particularly to the lineup of leaders of Apec (Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation) because the dignitaries are asked to wear outfits distinctive to the host country. Thus, we have seen them in ponchos in Mexico, silk jackets in China, leather jackets in Canada, batik cotton shirts in Indonesia, and, of course, the barong Tagalog in the Philippines.

The class picture of the dignitaries gathered for the Association of Southeast Asian Nations or Asean meet-up was rather ho-hum in contrast. Though each visiting leader was supposedly gifted with a barong or barong-dress (for Aung San Su Kyi of Myanmar), they chose to wear more conventional outfits. So there was our President standing out in his simple white barong in a sea of dark business suits. I guess we’ll have to wait for the next Apec Summit for another “costume” drama.

There was drama aplenty, though, in the course of the Asean discussions, centered mainly on the members’ relations with an absentee power: China. Though commentators waxed eager for a possible confrontation between and among the Asean countries and China, in the end the attendees made no mention of the dispute in the South China Sea.

Still, the world was drawn to the proceedings here, with media from all over the region parsing and interpreting the vague, indistinct diplomatese emanating from the discussions.

Charged with the care and feeding of the media was the Presidential Communications Operations Office led by Secretary Martin Andanar. Facing its first major international assignment, the PCOO pulled out all the stops, setting up the International Media Center at the Conrad Hotel, providing for every possible need. The PCOO also prepared background information on the issues, coverage of the ongoing activities, and even livestreaming of the proceedings.

Neither were Filipinos forgotten by the PCOO, which conducted road shows around the country mainly to better inform people about the continuing relevance of Asean on its 50th year.