LRTA reports P760K in foregone revenues due to Pasay fire

MANILA, Philippines - The Light Rail Transit Authority (LRTA) on Thursday reported a revenue loss of over P760,000 after partly suspending operations of the LRT Line-1 due to a fire that a cluster of business establishments near its Libertad station in Pasay City. In an interview, LRTA media relations officer Jinky Jorgio said the agency lost P761, 546 in foregone revenues after limiting its trips from its Gil Puyat Ave. station to the Monumento station and vice versa. Jiorgio noted that LRTA was forced to cut its trip as early as 7 a.m. due to the thick smoke coming from the burning buildings. As of 2:30 p.m., LRT-1 has yet to resume operations of its stations south of Gil Puyat Avenue. “We have lost close to P1 million in our revenue. But we have to limit our trip from Monumento to Gil Puyat station for the safety of their passengers," said Jorgio. Due to the disruption of the LRT-1 operations, hundreds of commuters were stranded along Buendia Avenue in Makati City until Thursday afternoon. Passengers had to be ferried off by Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) buses to their destinations along Taft Avenue. Commuters said that they are having a hard time to find a ride to their destinations since Taft Avenue was closed down by the authorities. Other passengers going to Makati are also having a hard time to find a “comfortable" ride as buses plying along Buendia doubled their seating capacities to accommodate the in flux of passengers. Reports said that the blaze, which erupted inside the Pure Gold Supermarket at about 2 a.m. , has already spread over to a number of neighboring buildings. In a related development, a separate radio report quoted fire officials as saying that several firefighters have emerged hurt after almost suffocating while trying to douse the blaze. A volunteer member of the rescue team, Richwell de Vera, had lost consciousness after suffocating in the thick smoke earlier in the day. He was later declared in stable condition. Operatives from the Pasay City police had already been deployed in the area to augment security around the burning establishments, the radio report also said. - GMANews.TV