Trouble brewing at LRTA

Big trouble is brewing at the Light Rail Transit Authority even as President Arroyo is poised to name a new LRTA administrator.

LRTA employees and cause-oriented groups are asking Mrs. Arroyo "to bring positive changes and reform" in the state-run LRTA by not appointing people who allegedly brought corruption, mismanagement and ineptness to the country’s light rail transport system.

The workers vehemently objected to the appointment by Mrs. Arroyo of either Moises Tolentino, former chief of the METRO Inc., or holdover LRTA head Antonio San Luis as the new LRTA chief.

When contacted for comment, San Luis said, "I know I have managed the agency well." Tolentino, however, was not available for comment.

In an open letter to the President, former METRO Inc. employees and cause-oriented groups said: "It was during Tolentino’s term that the number of employees working for METRO ballooned to unreasonable proportions, causing the government hundreds of millions in unnecessary expenditures and wastages because of the patronage system prevalently practiced by management."

"As former employees of METRO Inc. we are first-hand witnesses to the ineptness and mismanagement of our company which eventually led to its downfall," the employees said.

They wanted the President to know that during Tolentino’s term as METRO chief, results of METRO’s technical evaluations during biddings had been partial to those who were identified as "contributors to his family and personal trips."

On the other hand, LRTA employees, led by the United Concerned Employees of the LRTA, want holdover administrator San Luis out of the agency.

The employees said San Luis has initiated a petition to Malacañang for his retention as LRTA chief.

The employees want the appointee of former President Joseph Estrada out "to give the LRTA a chance for growth via the appointment of a competent and honest administrator."

"With the holdover status of San Luis as LRTA chief, it is business as usual Erap Estrada style and Erap’s legacy at the LRTA goes on," according to the LRTA employees. – PNA