No hurry to hold departure of Vitangcol

MANILA, Philippines - No copy of the Sandiganbayan’s hold departure order (HDO) against former Metro Rail Transit (MRT) general manager Al Vitangcol III was received at the Bureau of Immigration (BI) yesterday.

As of 3 p.m. yesterday, BI officials were still waiting for the official transmission of the HDO from the Sandiganbayan Third Division, BI spokesperson Elaine Tan said.

In a matter of just “one to two hours, Vitangcol’s name and those of his co-accused would be encoded in the BI system and would be seen in all the (international) seaports and airports with a BI presence once they receive the official transmittal from the Sandiganbayan,” she added.

The anti-graft court also issued HDOs against Vitangcol’s uncle-in-law Arturo Soriano, currently the provincial accountant of Pangasinan; Wilson de Vera, who ran for mayor under the Liberal Party  in Calasiao, Pangasinan; Marlo de la Cruz, an LP campaign supporter in Manaoag, Pangasinan; Manolo Maralit and Federico Remo.

Three HDOs were reportedly issued against Vitangcol in connection with criminal charges filed against him for his alleged participation in a train service maintenance deal anomaly.

The other respondents were charged as incorporators of the Philippine Trans Rail Management and Services Corporation (PH Trams) that got the $1.15-million a month MRT-3 interim maintenance deal without the conduct of public bidding.

Ranking officials of the Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) are now facing graft charges before the Office of the Ombudsman for their alleged refusal to pay a firm providing maintenance services for the Metro Rail Transit 3 for the past five months.

Schunk Bahn-und Industrietechnik GmbH-Comm Builders & Technology Phils. Corp. joint venture (SBI-CB&T) through its authorized representative Roehl Bacar lodged the complaint before the ombudsman yesterday.

Named respondents to the complaint were Undersecretary for Operations Edwin Lopez, also the head of the procuring agency; MRT-3 general manager Roman Buenafe; engineering division chief Misael Narca; rolling stock principal engineer Arturo Din and signaling system principal engineer Daniel Barrera.

The company which bagged the short-term maintenance contract for the MRT-3 worth P131.28 million last July said the DOTC, despite repeated demands, refused to pay for the services rendered and the spare parts installed and used by the train system.

Lawyer Francis Yap said SBI-CB&T has only been paid around P10 million, and the short-term contract for six months is about to end in January 2016.

What happened can be likened to ordering food, accepting and eating it, and finding it delicious yet refusing to pay for the same, claiming that it wasn’t what you asked for, he said.

The complaint said the DOTC’s refusal to pay has caused undue injury not only to SBI-CB&T but also caused damage and prejudice to the higher interest of the riding public. – With Michael Punongbayan, Louella Desiderio