PASAHERO Party List vows to push Magna Carta of commuters
THE PASAHERO Partylist vowed to vigorously push for the long delayed Magna Carta of Commuters in the next Congress should it win a seat in the House of Representatives in the May 2022 elections.
“Now more than ever we need to put in place a national policy establishing and promoting commuters’ rights and welfare amid the challenges brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic,” said PASAHERO spokesperson lawyer Homer Alinsug.
Alinsug said the daily commute of millions of Filipinos, especially those residing in Metro Manila, has always been a struggle, and the situation was made even worse by the pandemic with the varying degrees of mobility restrictions during lockdown.
The proposed Magna Carta of Commuters, also called the Commuters Bill of Rights, seeks to enumerate and uphold the rights of the commuting public, including the right to safety; right to sanitary transportation services; right to special attention during service breakdowns; and right to information for effective and convenient travel.
Several bills on the Magna Carta of Commuters have been filed both in the House and the Senate at the start of the 18th Congress in 2019. Although the consolidated measure already passed the committee level in the House, its counterpart bill is gathering dust in the upper chamber.
According to Alinsug, the bill already faces dim prospects for becoming law with only a few months left in the current Congress and lawmakers will soon be preoccupied with the upcoming election campaign.
“PASAHERO Party-list will push for the enactment of the Magna Carta of Commuters in the next Congress because we strongly believe that the welfare and protection of the commuting public should be a priority of the government,” Alinsug said.
PASAHERO, also known as the Passengers and Riders Organization Inc., is a party-list group representing Filipino commuters and passengers. The Commission on Elections recently declared the group as a party-list candidate eligible to participate in the May 2022 general elections.
