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This thing has the power to unload MRT passengers

What exactly is this seemingly harmless item?

This is an anti-rape whistle. There's a chance female passengers will no longer be able to bring one inside an MRT train. PHOTO FROM POP KEYCHAIN

The Department of Transportation’s PR team reports that at around 9:35pm last night, December 2, “a northbound train unloaded approximately 934 passengers at the MRT-3 Guadalupe Station due to an alarming sound, which, as reported by some passengers, was coming from an air-conditioning unit.”

Turns out it wasn’t the air-conditioning system that was emitting the strange noise—it was “an anti-rape whistle device that accidentally activated a loud siren inside the bag of a female passenger.”

And so the passengers, according to the DOTr, were made to board the same train “after two minutes.”

Yep, MRT’s woes are getting more and more comical by the day. One wonders if all of this isn’t scripted or staged or something.

When we asked DOTr communications director Goddes Hope Oliveros-Libiran how they intend to ensure something like this won’t be repeated in the future, she said: “We will employ stricter security measures, and remind passengers not to bring devices such as [the anti-rape whistle] inside the trains to prevent similar incidents from happening again.”

We guess it’s now a choice between riding the MRT or protecting yourself from rapists. Take your pick.



Vernon B. Sarne

Vernon is the founder and editor-in-chief of VISOR. He has been an automotive journalist since July 1995. He became one by serendipity, walking into the office of a small publishing company and applying for a position he had no idea was for a local car magazine. God has watched over him throughout his humble journey. He writes the ‘Spoiler’ column.



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