Palace to MRTH: Stop blame game on train woes

MANILA, Philippines - Malacañang called on the Metro Rail Transit Holdings Inc. to stop the blame game with regard to MRT-3 woes after its chairman, Robert John Sobrepeña, expressed support for the Senate recommendation to file charges against top transport officials for entering into contracts detrimental to train commuters.

“It would be fair to say that Mr. Sobrepeña and his company will, of course, do everything possible to shift the blame for what is the real cause of the problems,” Presidential Communications Development and Strategic Planning Office Undersecretary Manuel Quezon III said.

“Therefore, it is very easy to accuse but, of course, there is no basis for these accusations. It’s simply a counteroffensive on the part of Mr. Sobrepeña and his friends,” he said.

The Department of Transportation and Communications earlier successfully overcame the MRTH’s move to stop the addition of 48 new train cars to the MRT-3 system.

The government said MRTH failed to add trains under its contractual obligation.

MRTH used to manage the affairs of MRT-3’s contractual owner MRT Corp.  and is now its controlling shareholder.

In a 45-page report, the Senate subcommittee on public services led by Sen. Grace Poe blamed the DOTC for giving “unwarranted benefits” to PH Trams and APT Global.

The Poe committee said the DOTC exercised “gross inexcusable negligence” in allowing the deterioration of the MRT by not immediately hiring a competent maintenance provider.

The DOTC’s move also neglected what could have been better maintenance providers and violated the terms of the government’s build-lease-transfer agreement with the Sobrepeña-led MRT Corp., the report added.

Welcoming the results of the Senate probe, Sobrepeña said DOTC Secretary Joseph Emilio Abaya was just two days on the job when he signed the maintenance contract between the DOTC and Philippine Trams Rail Management and Services Corp.

He said the Office of the Ombudsman should also investigate former DOTC secretary Manuel Roxas II.

The Senate panel report implicated Abaya and other officials for violating the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act, but Sobrepeña said the bulk of the vetting process for the transaction occurred during the term of Roxas, Abaya’s predecessor.

Sobrepeña said MRTH and other private companies submitted at least eight proposals to the government, the last four of which had been submitted directly to Abaya.

He asked why DOTC did not extend the contract with Sumitomo Corp. and resorted to a new provider that was operating for only two months.

“The fact that the DOTC awarded such a huge contract to a two-month-old company is a smoking gun. They could be charged with graft,” Sobrepeña said.

Sobrepeña also objected to the plan of the MRT-3 to use the light rail vehicles (LRVs) from China’s CNR Dalian Locomotive and Rolling Stock Co., which he said could endanger the train system and the lives of commuters if it would run at up to 60 kilometers per hour (kph).– With Robertzon Ramirez