Duterte won’t file raps vs Mar over train coaches

MANILA, Philippines — It would be up to the public to decide whether to file charges against opposition senatorial bet and former transportation secretary Manuel “Mar” Roxas II over the purchase of coaches that were incompatible with the Metro Rail Transit 3 (MRT-3) system, President Duterte said.  

Duterte said he was not keen on filing cases against Roxas to avoid notions that he was targeting members of the opposition. 

“He (Roxas) was appointed in three departments. He became the trade minister and then the DOTC (Department of Transportation and Communications) chief just to earn money, and after that he just left everything,” the President said during a campaign rally in Bohol last Wednesday. 

“That is why the trains are too big, they don’t fit in the train rails. And now they are just rotting there. That was his doing. So why is he not facing charges? But I don’t want to do it because they might say that I’m targeting them. But if somebody wants to, he can file a case,” he added. 

The Aquino administration had signed a deal with Chinese company Dalian for the acquisition of 48 light rail vehicles worth P3.8 billion. The vehicles were not immediately used because they were said to be incompatible with the MRT-3 system. 

Later on, some of the Dalian trains were deployed as the results of the audit conducted by Germany’s TUV Rheinland found that the 48 Dalian trains can be used “without compromising passenger safety and security,” Transportation Secretary Arthur Tugade had announced.

Tugade said the Dalian trains should be modified to match what had been stipulated in the contract and the Chinese firm CRRC Dalian Co. Ltd. agreed to do it.

The deployment of the additional train coaches was intended to ease passenger congestion in the train line.