LRTA has no disaster recovery plan, exec admits

The Light Rail Transit Authority (LRTA) on Wednesday admitted that it has no disaster recovery plan to follow in cases like the burning of power rectifiers which recently halted the operations of LRT Line 2.

During a House Committee on Transportation meeting, Muntinlupa Representative Ruffy Biazon quizzed LRTA whether they have a disaster recovery playbook in place which could guide them in dealing with different emergency scenarios, be it man-made or natural.

Federico Canar, manager of LRT Lines 1 and 2 engineering department, however, said that they do not have such playbook.

"Sorry, Sir. Wala po ata," he said.

Biazon said the absence of the playbook is "one glaring gap" on the part of the LRTA.

"All kinds of scenarios dapat pinag-iisipan natin yung possibility na mangyari. Lalo na nagkaroon tayo ng experience, rectifier problem, it's a similar although bigger magnitude. Dapat meron tayo," he said.

"We know what kind of disaster to anticipate and what mitigating measures ang meron tayo, immediate response," he added.

Hernando Cabrera, LRTA corporate board secretary, nevertheless said they have a risk management plan, which they follow in cases of terrorist attacks, derailment, train collision, among others.

"We will look into this particular incident kung kasama ito doon sa risk management plan namin," he said.

Operations of LRT Line 2 were halted on Thursday last week after the rectifier in the Katipunan area caught fire and cut the power supply for trains.

The damage caused by the fire prompted the LRTA to shut down for nine months the operations of three stations of LRT Line 2, namely Santolan, Katipunan, and Anonas.

LRTA, however, has already ruled out foul play and terrorism as the possible cause of the incident. —LDF, GMA News