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Department of Transportation Secretary Arthur Tugade has warned the passengers of Metro Rail Transit Line 3 that they will face charges if they will force or lean on the train doors, resulting to disruption of its operations.

Tugade made the warning during his speech at the Philippine Economic Briefing in Pampanga on Friday after the operation of the MRT-3 was disrupted when one of the passengers allegedly forced the door to open.

"For the last 11 days, there was no unloading, it was smooth. Today, we have the first unloading. Do you know the cause? There was someone who put pressure on the door. He forced to enter even if it's already closed. It’s not about parts, it’s about this passenger. My instruction, identify this person,” said Tugade.

Aside from filing of charges, he also wants the management to collect damages from erring passengers.

“From now on, anyone who will be caught leaning or forcing the doors even if they're already closed, file a case! I told MRT to file cases and collect damages from them. A lot of passengers are being affected because of lack of discipline,” he added.

MRT management on Sunday clarified that they have yet to receive the notice from DOTr.

MRT3 Media Relations Officer Aly Narvaez, in a radio interview, said they will first try to file a complaint against the passenger who forced to open the door of the train last Friday.

"We will act on the erring passenger who intentionally leaned on the door and forced it to open," she said, while urging the public to help the MRT management in identifying the passenger.

Because of the incident, the passengers were loaded in the next train that arrived four minutes later.

For the past weeks, MRT-3 has been consistently running 15-17 trains daily, an improvement attributed to the arrival of spare parts and general maintenance conducted during the the Holy Week. Ella Dionisio/DMS