(Eagle News) — The personnel involved in the hasty disinfection of Metro Rail Transit-3 trains as seen in a viral video will be relieved from their posts.
The Metro Rail Transit-3’s said its maintenance provider Sumitomo-MHI-TESP has also vowed to file administrative charges against the personnel, and has issued an apology over the incident.
According to the MRT-3, Sumitomo is deploying additional staff to supervise its disinfection teams and is rolling out a re-training of its maintenance personnel upon the MRT-3 management’s bidding.
“Meanwhile, we have notified all team members to always observe proper disinfection as they were trained to do. We are also deploying two additional staff to ensure that they are properly supervised,” TESP Administration Manager Toto Domingo said.
MRT-3 Director for Operations Michael J. Capati added the MRT-3 was installing additional closed-circuit television cameras and “realigning other units, to ensure cleaning areas are captured on footage by the management’s own security personnel.”
The MRT-3 said it is also deploying additional stations personnel to oversee the work of its maintenance provider in terms of ensuring proper sanitation and implementing disinfection protocols.
“We assure our passengers that the MRT-3 takes the sanitation and disinfection of its trains seriously and that their health and safety are our top priorities,” Capati said.
“We are taking all the necessary steps to ensure this incident will never happen again,” he added.
Earlier, Transportation Secretary Art Tugade urged public utility vehicle drivers and operators to take the disinfection of their vehicles seriously.
Tugade issued the statement after the viral video came out, and amid the surge of COVID-19 cases in the Philippines.