MRT-3 paying P83,000 per janitor, and more

P83,000 monthly salary per janitor. P74,000 daily in water to wash the train exteriors. P436,000 monthly to haul waste from the depot. P29.3 million to repaint and retouch the coaches, depot, and posts.

Those are but four of 16 whopping overcharges to the MRT-3 for maintenance. Discovering the excessive amounts recently, Rep. Jericho Nograles wants any more payments to contractor Busan Universal Rail Inc. (BURI) stopped. BURI has been billing the Dept. of Transport since Jan. 2016, under a P3.8-billion 36-month deal till Jan. 2019.

Papers show that DOTr consented to the overcharges during secret contracting in late 2015. BURI budgeted P18.05 million for three years for salaries of six janitors to clean the train interiors. That translates to P83,566 a month, higher than what a government bureau director or a bank branch manager gets, Nograles notes. “Preposterous,” he says of the salaries, given that the janitors mop only 60 or so coaches a day.

As scandalous is the P80.05 million wash water budget of BURI for three years. That’s P74,000 daily for the exterior-hosing of the coaches. That rate is enough to wash 500 cars a day, Nograles estimates, making MRT-3 the world’s most expensive carwash.

Another P15.7 million was earmarked by BURI to haul waste from the depot. At P436,000 a month, Nograles wonders what kind of waste is being handled. He notes that Japanese giant Sumitomo Corp., the former MRT-3 upkeep servicer, used to charge only P12,000 a month.

Supposedly P13.54 million is for painting of rail sides, but seems to not have been done for the past year-and-a-half. A separate P9.03 million is for retouching of unspecified coaches, and P6.77 million for the depot, also allegedly undone.

Those were incorporated into BURI’s standard monthly billing of P54.5 million, with no specifics if the work was done or not. DOTr paid the billings, no questions asked, in the first eight months. Starting with the ninth billing, new U-Sec. for Rails Cesar Chavez deducted sums that should have gone into purchase of train spare parts. Nograles says the entire contract reeks of corruption, and should be scrapped.

The janitor salaries, water, waste hauling, and painting were detailed in a negotiation summary, “Joint Venture Responses to BAC (Bids and Award Committee) Questions.” Then-U-Secs. Rene Limcaoco and Catherine Gonzales, and then-MRT-3 general manager Roman Buenafe went through the motions of questioning the expenses. Like, the rail sides do not need painting anyway, and that Sumitomo had billed much less for water, P11,667 a month.

To each question, BURI responded with the stock remark: “Any savings generated therefrom will be reallocated as a contingency fund, which shall utilized (sic) to fund other requirements for the contract, most especially for spare parts procurement not listed in the spare parts proposal, as the spare parts listed in the proposal was only indicative of the actual requirements. The monthly maintenance fee remains at P54.5 million.”

Nograles says BURI seems to have plucked figures from thin air, and submitted it to DOTr negotiators. The latter acceded and with then-U-Sec. Edwin Lopez, awarded the contract to BURI.

Nograles points out more exorbitant unsupported charges:

• P29.43 million for supposed warehouse facilities;

• P29.43 million for furnishings and fixtures in the warehouse;

• P29.43 million for air conditioners in office buildings, stations, and the depot;

• P372.78 million for spare parts and consummables;

• P9.94 million for spare parts of the automated fare collection;

• P6.28 million for maintenance hardware and software, enough to buy a brand-new system;

• P83.38 million for unspecified special repair of coaches;

• P451.26 million for “maintenance service”;

• P451.26 million for “labor for maintenance,” deemed as similar to the preceding and which BURI could not differentiate; and

• P235.44 million for coach shunting and rail switching at depot, seen as mere labor/manpower costs already included in the preceding and not requiring sophisticated equipment.

To those items, BURI also responded with: “Any savings generated will be reallocated as a contingency fund (blah-blah-blah).”

Nograles says the Commission on Audit should review for fraud the overcharges. He wonders where the contingency fund is and who benefits from it.

Nograles notes from the document that BURI allocates only 19 percent for spare parts, when Sumitomo used to spend 65 percent, as with railways abroad. He cautions Sec. Arthur Tugade against continuous payment of the irregular amounts.

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The widely known Japanese film festival “Eigasai” unreels July 6 to Aug. 29, in selected cinemas in Metro Manila, Baguio, Bacolod, Iloilo, Cebu, and Davao cities. Admission is free but first-come-first served, except screenings at Shang Cineplex, EDSA Shangri-La Mall, which is P100. Twenty films are to be featured, 17 with English subtitles and three dubbed in Tagalog. Top-billing “Her Love Boils Bathwater,” directed by Riota Nakano. Sponsored by the Japan Foundation-Manila.

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Catch Sapol radio show, Saturdays, 8-10 a.m., DWIZ (882-AM).

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