Contractor mulls estafa raps versus LRTA

MANILA, Philippines - The company of construction magnate FF Cruz is contemplating filing a case of syndicated estafa against the president of the Light Rail Transit Administration, who allegedly copied its design on the proposed LRT extension from Monumento to SM North EDSA.

Lawyer Albert Reyes, spokesman of Filsystems, said they are “readying” their case against Mel Robles for copyright infringement, because he used the company’s design – which is protected by a copyright – without its consent. The case will be filed before a prosecutor.

Felipe Cruz Jr., who lost the bid for the P6.5-billion LRT Line 1-MRT interconnection project, earlier complained to the House committee on oversight chaired by Quezon Rep. Danilo Suarez, and even showed the panel a powerpoint presentation to prove that Robles indeed copied their design.

“I’m not suing the government. I’m suing the person. I’m more concerned on the breach of the design that was protected by a copyright,” he said, accusing Robles of intentionally singling him out even if his competitors deserved to be disqualified also.

Suarez asked Cruz if he could forgive the winning bidder, D.M. Consunji Inc., based on the “theory of relativity,” the latter being his cousin.

DMCI and First Balfour won the bidding. Cruz said it was okay with him, but remained unforgiving on the copyright infringement.

Cruz accused Robles of purchasing 48 LRT coaches, to the tune of $81.6 million, even without any railway tracks to run on. It was supposed to be used for the LRT extension from Baclaran to Bacoor in Cavite, but proponent Lavalin of Canada had backed out of the deal.

The LRTA chief confirmed the procurement, but insisted it was for their capacity expansion project of LRT Line 1 running from Baclaran in Parañaque City to Monumento in Caloocan City.

“All the 48 coaches we bought three years ago are now being used to more than double the number of passengers we carry on our LRT Line 1. Not one coach is sitting idly waiting to be used for the Cavite extension project, which is still on the drawing board,” Robles said, adding that the congressmen may have been misled by losing bidder Filsystems.

“Our biddings (for the interconnection project) are so transparent they were videotaped, witnessed by World Bank officials, and attended by representatives from the Church, the Philippine Contractors’ Association, and various government agencies,” he said.

Filsystems counsel Reyes said Robles is liable for the copyright breach, as LRTA copied their design concept from Monumento to SM North EDSA by placing three stations “at the same places Filsystems designated.”

According to him, LRTA used the “very same train system, communications, signaling, ticketing and electronic power system” protected and registered under Copyright 1-2006-07 on April 24, 2006.

Reyes pointed out that Filsystems was not a losing bidder because it was “already disqualified” in the pre-qualification stage, only because they allegedly failed to comply with the electronic filing of income tax return. He said LRTA didn’t even open it in the pre-bidding stage.