Dear MRT management and staff,

You have gone above and beyond to show how much you care about your passengers.  Which is to say -- not at all.

It wasn't enough that nine (possibly more) people were injured last August when the train went off the rail and crashed into a street barrier.  I was in Manila at the time -- and in fact, I took the MRT earlier that same day -- but I didn't witness the accident.  But I think this Tweet from @yumolecule sums up how we all felt:

SHIT SAW IT LIVE SCARY AS FUCK PEOPLE WERE FALLING OUT OF THE MRT pic.twitter.com/FGKfzE7AEN

— Kim Yumol (@yumolecule) August 13, 2014

One might think that after an incident like that, you'd take extra care to make sure that your passengers are safe on your trains.  One might think.

At this point, their discomfort is almost a given.  As of April 2012, about a half-million people ride the train every day.  Rush hour is particularly crowded, with passengers packed into the cars like sardines.  (This is not an exaggeration.  Ask any commuter who heads home after 4:00pm.)  Other hours are slightly more comfortable, especially since the cars are air-conditioned.  Still, each train can only seat so many passengers (80, according to their official website), which leaves many of them standing for the duration of their ride.

So one might think that if you can't immediately make the trains more comfortable for their hordes of passengers, you would at least make them safe.  For example, you would (pardon my language) close the fucking doors before taking off.

My main question is this:  Would you really rather risk your patrons' safety than stop operations for a few hours to fix this problem?

Here are some secondary questions:  Did you see no alternate way for these people to get home?  Had all the buses, jeepneys, taxis and vans on EDSA evaporated that night?  And most importantly, did it not occur to you that people could fall off of that train and die?

Although I doubt you'll respond to this, let me get ahead of you on something:  if you say it's okay that this happened because no one actually did get hurt, you're an asshole.  The mere act of taking this risk was so irresponsible, and you shouldn't have to wait for someone to get hurt before you take action.  And if you say this was an isolated incident, well, you're lying.  Citizen journalism has shown that it has happened on more than one trip.

Just because the President doesn't (and can't be bothered to) take the MRT doesn't mean it's acceptable for it to be falling apart.

The MRT is necessary to so many citizens of Manila.  Please don't let it become a necessary evil.

Dear Homophobic Teenage Boy Who is Obsessed with Drawing Penises,

Now that I have seen your crude drawing of a male sex organ, I am utterly convinced of your heterosexuality and masculinity.  Body positivity is very important to me (as it should be to all of us!) and I am thrilled to see that you are so confident about the state of your privates that you felt the need to share an artistic interpretation of them on my car window.  My only disappointment is that since you traced it onto my wet-from-the-rain windshield, it nearly disappeared when I turned the wipers on.  Only nearly, though!  I had the pleasure of looking at it (well, through it) all the way to work.

click through for a related post from Cultural Capitol

I must wonder, though, exactly what kind of statement you were trying to make with your masterpiece.  Many artists draw, paint or sculpt their muses -- that from which they draw inspiration.  Would this imply that the penis is something you are constantly thinking about?  Does the penis haunt you?  If so, I applaud your genius use of irony!  You are, after all, the very picture of machismo.  Why would anyone ever think that drawing penises on walls (or tracing them onto wet car windows) is the pastime of someone who constantly has penises on their mind?

No one is an artist unless he carries his picture in his head before painting it, and is sure of his method and composition.

Claude Monet

Alternately, or perhaps even additionally, your artwork could be chalked up to an irrepressible urge for self-expression.  Like so many artists before you, you have struggled to find yourself in your craft.  And like a lucky handful of those artists, you have created something that speaks of not only your ability but also your identity.  For achieving this, I congratulate you again.  There was truly never a better way to say, "Look at me! I'm a dick!"
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Favorite new pick-up line: Tell me about the state of your privates.