Grace seeks MRT-3 contract review

MANILA, Philippines – Sen. Grace Poe has asked the Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) to submit a copy of the contract for the maintenance of the MRT-3 to the Senate committee on public services for review to ensure that everything is aboveboard.

Poe, who chairs the committee hearing the problems hounding the MRT-3, said there is no question that a new maintenance provider for the crucial mass transit system is needed in light of the numerous malfunctions being experienced on a daily basis.

Poe said commuters taking the MRT-3 deserve public transport that is both efficient and reliable, and a new maintenance provider is definitely needed to help address the various issues hounding the mass transit system.

“The general overhaul of the MRT trains and the replacement of the signaling system are also long overdue. However, the DOTC owes the public the assurance that the 3-year, multibillion-peso contract is not only aboveboard but, more importantly, that the winning contractor is competent and qualified to get the job done,” Poe said.

The DOTC announced the other day that it had awarded the 3-year, P3.81-billion maintenance contract for the MRT-3 to Busan Transportation Corp., Edison Development & Construction, Tramat Mercantile Inc., TMICorp Inc. and Castan Corp., a Korean-Filipino joint venture.

In previous years, the DOTC resorted to awarding short-term contracts for the maintenance of the MRT-3, which was blamed for the constant breakdown of the system.

These “emergency contracts” were granted without any public bidding and even resulted in the filing of criminal charges against former MRT-3 general manager Al Vitangcol and other officials.

The Office of the Ombudsman filed graft charges against Vitangcol before the Sandiganbayan after finding probable cause that he conspired with PH Trams incorporators in awarding the maintenance contract for $1.15 million a month without public bidding. Five PH Trams executives were also charged. 

The ombudsman said Vitangcol acted in “evident bad faith, manifest partiality or gross inexcusable negligence” to give the unwarranted advantage to PH Trams and joint venture partner Comm Builders and Technology Philippines Corp. 

Vitangcol’s uncle-in-law was an executive at PH Trams, something that should have automatically disqualified the company from participating in the bidding.

Due to these circumstances, Poe said a review of the new three-year contract should be undertaken “to help ensure that government funds are spent judiciously and the interests of the riding public are protected.”

“A careful review will help banish speculation that the contract was awarded during the holiday season, when the people’s attention is elsewhere. We certainly can no longer bear a repeat of the several unreliable and dubious maintenance contracts the DOTC entered into in the past,” Poe said.