MANILA, Philippines - The Metrorail Transit Corp. (MRTC) has not waived its right of first refusal for the purchase of brand new additional light rail vehicles (LRVs) for the Metro Rail Transit (MRT) line 3 or MRT-3.
In the hearing on Thursday at the Makati Regional Trial Court Branch 66 for MRTC's petition for an injunction on the move of the Department of Transportation and Communication (DOTC) to buy 48 LRVs from a Chinese firm, former MRTC chairman Robert John Sobrepeña testified that the MRTC even submitted proposals to the DOTC to buy brand new LRVs in 2000, 2004 and 2008.
"Our agreement with the DOTC was to supply brand new trains," Sobrepena told the court. He added that the MRTC proposal to buy new trains was approved in 2000 by the National Economic Development Authority (NEDA).
However, Sobrepena said the government wanted a "triggering event" for the purchase of new LRVs to push through.
Sobrepeña said the "triggering effect" was for the MRT to reach a daily riding capacity of 350,000. That figure was reached and reported by the DOTC in 2000.
Sobrepeña said the MRTC again proposed to buy additional LRVs in 2004.
"We renewed the offer and to also improve the system to allow for new trains to come in," he said.
Sobrepeña said the DOTC agreed and even formed a technical working team to study the MRTc's offer.
However, Sobrepeña said the idea of purchasing second hand trains was floated by the DOTC and the House Transportation Committee.
"That did not come from us but from the DOTC. I was not in favor. What we want were brand new trains," he said.
He told the court that in 2008, the DOTC was delayed in its lease payments to the MRTC, forcing the firm's board to focus on the lease collection and not on line expansion.
In 2008, the MRTC and the DOTC then agreed to solve the collection issue by arbitration in Singapore.
"We offered brand-new trains for expansion. That offer is still pending but the reply of the DOTC was to supply second-hand trains," Sobrepeña said.
Sobrepeña, however, stressed that the MRTC is still open for negotiations with the government for the purchase of brand new LRVs for the MRT3 system.
The MRTC earlier filed a petition with the Makati RTC Branch 66 to stop the DOTC's plan to buy 48 LRVs from the CNR Dalian Locomotive & Rolling Stock Co. of China, which it says is in violation of the existing build-lease-transfer agreement entered between the DOTC and MRTC on August 8, 1997.
Makati Regional Trial Court Branch 66 Judge Joselito Villarosa earlier granted MRTC's petition for preliminary injunction with a 20-day temporary order of protection to stop the DOTC.
"The main action is the arbitration case in Singapore," Narvasa said, adding that the arbitration case in Singapore will determine who has the rights to the capacity expansion for the MRT-3.
MRTC entered into a build-lease-transfer agreement with the DOTC in 1999 to construct and maintain a light rail transit system for EDSA, eventually known as MRT-3.