Who are PH Trams owners-directors?

One of them had a role in the original maintenance contract for the MRT-3 decades ago. One was a provincial campaign manager in 2010 of an influential administration man. One is even a government official. The niece of another is married to a high MRT-3 manager. The wife of yet another is the childhood friend of that MRT-3 manager’s wife.

That is how transport department insiders explain the apparent influence of PH Trams. That is how the newborn, undercapitalized firm became MRT-3’s maintenance contractor for nine months in 2012-2013.

One of PH Trams’ six incorporators-directors is Wilson T. de Vera. He is accused of attempting in July 2012 to extort $30 million from Czech train maker Inekon.

De Vera hails from Calasiao, Pangasinan, the province with the second-biggest voting population. Although a US immigrant, he ran (and lost) for mayor of Calasiao in 2013 under the ruling Liberal Party.

Two more PH Trams incorporators — chairman Marlo de la Cruz and director Manolo M. Maralit — allegedly witnessed the squeeze play. Czech Amb. Josef Rychtar and Inekon CEO Josef Hušek corroborate that it happened over post-prandial talks at the former’s residence on July 9, 2012, and at the MRT-3 head office the next day.

The family of de la Cruz, from Manaoag, Pangasinan, is said to be active in politics, LP-side. Maralit, one-time consultant of Inekon, had sold Czech-made airport communications systems to the DOTC.

The last three incorporators-directors of PH Trams are:

• Federico F. Remo, EVP-operations of the state-owned Philippine Export-Import Credit Agency, under the Dept. of Finance;

• Alfreda Tan Maralit, supposedly the wife of Manolo Maralit; and

• Arturo V. Soriano, also from Calasiao, Pangasinan, said to be a provincial capitol official.

The first five incorporators-directors hold 4,166 shares each of PH Trams; Soriano controls a slightly bigger 4,170 shares.

Inekon had rejected the payoff demand of July 2012. It was then four years into negotiating a supply-refitting-maintenance deal with the MRT-3. Reports were that the DOTC-MRT-3 consequently blacklisted the Czech investor.

Three months later, on Oct. 19, 2012, PH Trams bagged a $6.9-million (P290-million) maintenance-only contract with the MRT-3.

PH Trams was only two months old then (see Gotcha, 21 and 23 Apr. 2014). De Vera had filed for registration with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Aug. 6, 2012 (Company Reg. No. OS201230134).

PH Trams’ paid-up capital then was but P625,000, of P10-million authorized and P2.5-million subscribed. Yet it wangled a contract 464 times more.

The P290-million contract was by closed-door negotiation, not public bidding. Signatory was MRT-3 GM Al Vitangcol. It was purportedly for him that de Vera demanded $30 million from Inekon. As head of the requisitioning agency, Vitangcol had drafted the terms of reference for the negotiations.

Also signing was Sec. Joseph Emilio Abaya, who in 2013 hastily would clear Vitangcol when the scandal was exposed. At the time Abaya had just succeeded Liberal Party-mate Mar Roxas as DOTC chief.

Vitangcol reportedly worked for Roxas when the latter was senator. It is unclear if Abaya and Roxas dealt politically with LP man de Vera. Malacañang spokesman Edwin Lacierda has said it is unlikely that President Noynoy Aquino, the highest of LP officers in the government, personally knows Vitangcol and de Vera.

Vitangcol and de Vera deny any wrongdoing. The former claims that the Czechs made up the extortion tale because he had blocked Inekon’s “overpriced” negotiation, in favor of public bidding. (China’s Dalian Corp. eventually won the tram-supply contract.) De Vera says he was merely asked, along with Maralit and de la Cruz, to explore a possible partnership with Inekon, not extortion.

PH Trams has shown staying power, DOTC insiders say. Its first maintenance contract with MRT-3 -- $1.15 million a month for six months, Oct. 2012-Apr. 2013, was in joint venture with CB&T.

CB&T (Comm Builders and Technology Corp.) has been in construction, maintenance, and repair of airfields, piers, and railways since 2003 (SEC Registration No. CS200315200). It reported paid-up capital of P9 million and assets of P145,569,553 in Mar. 2013.

When the PH Trams-CB&T contract expired in Apr. 2013, the MRT-3 granted a three-month extension. In those three months PH Trams partnered with another old time DOTC contractor, APT (Autre Porte Technique Global Inc.).

Incorporated in 2003 (SEC Registration No. CS200323355), APT is in the manufacture of rail locomotives and rolling stock. As of Sept. 2011 it had paid-up capital of P9.9 million, out of P50 million authorized and P11.25 million subscribed. It also has spun off one subsidiary, and invested in stocks and bonds.

The NBI report on the extortion try is long delayed. It is in a quandary about what charge to pin on the culprits, since no money actually changed hands, The STAR reported in Dec.

The House of Reps committee on good government is to resume its inquiry in May. Chairman Oscar Rodriguez has invited Rychtar, Abaya, and Vitangcol to the next hearing. Rep. Neri Colmenares says he will look into the dramatis personae and the aftermath of the failed extortion.

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