Malacañang said on Saturday that the planned fare increase in the Metro Rail Transit (MRT) will undergo public consultation, adding that there may be an audit review to be done by the Department of Transportation and Communications (DoTC).

“Ang konsenso ng riding public eh pag-aaralan, ikoconsider sa consultation at magkakaroon ng hearing for the fare increase so ang mga transport groups, consumer groups, pwede nila ilahad doon ang kanilang concerns [The consensus of the riding public will be studied and will be considered in the consultation. There will be a hearing on the fare increase so transport groups and consumer groups can express their concerns],” Presidential spokesperson Edwin Lacierda said on Saturday.

He said the DoTC is already conducting a review on the mulled fare increase, adding that DoTC Sec. Jose “Ping” de Jesus will likely conduct an audit review of the MRT, particularly to look into the revenues of the MRT from advertisements.

“Kasama sa pag-aaral ng pagtaas ng fare increase, titingnan ang operations ng MRT, kung saan napupunta ang mga kita, anong klaseng expenditures na ginagawa at nalulugi ang MRT maliban sa mababang presyo ng MRT na subsidized [Among those which will be reviewed include the MRT operations, particularly where they used the revenues, what were the types of expenditures that led to its losses aside from the low fare currently being subsidized by the government],” Lacierda said.

“They will have to look into the management, the operations of the MRT. ‘Di pwedeng ‘di pag-aralan dahil may mga revenues from ads and they have to see saan napupunta ang revenues na yan. I’m sure DoTC will examine the books of the MRT [They are compelled to review MRT’s revenues because there are advertisements and they have to see where those revenues had gone],” he added.

Lacierda reiterated that the government is trying to “even out” MRT’s resources as it is currently being subsidized by the government through taxpayers’ money.

“Hinahanap ng ating pamahalaan yun balance roon. Hindi pwedeng mananatiling tapon tayo ng tapon ng pera doon eh malulugi tayo at same time buong bayan, buong Pilipinas ang nagbabayad ng subsidy niyan, hindi lang ng riding public. [The government is looking for a balance. We just can’t continue spending money because it’s not only the riding public who is spending for the subsidy but all the taxpayers]. So what we’re trying to do is just even it out in fairness also to the other taxpayers who are not enjoying that,” he said.

Malacañang also disclosed that more Executive Orders (EOs) may be expected this week after the first Executive Order (EO) was signed last Friday which created the Truth Commission.

Presidential spokesperson Edwin Lacierda said that the upcoming EOs will be concerning midnight appointments and the Communication Group.

“I can’t say the numbers but there is an EO on midnight appointments, EO on the Communication Group and may iba pang mga EO na lalabas nag-usap na kmi ni ES (Executive Secretary Paquito) Ochoa tungkol diyan [there are also other E Os to be released, ES Ochoa and I have already discussed that],” Lacierda said.

Lacierda, however, did not disclose when exactly the E Os will be released but he expressed optimism that it will be done within this week.

“Napag-aralan na ang midnight appoinments at Communications Group so yan lalabas po yan by next week [The EO on midnight appointments and the Communications Group had already been reviewed so it will be released by next week],” he said.

It will be recalled that President Aquino signed the first EO creating the Truth Commission on July 30, 2010.

Meanwhile, Lacierda said there are still no new appointees for the new Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) president and general manager and the Overseas Workers’ Welfare Administration (OWWA) administrator.

But he confirmed that Tourism Secretary Alberto Lim will retain former Pampanga Gov. Mark Lapid as the general manager of the Philippine Tourism Authority (PTA).