Death ride

Meanwhile, hundreds of thousands of weary workers risk life and limb riding the MRT each day even as an international transport expert described the depreciated and badly maintained train system “extremely dangerous.”

Several times, over the past few weeks, service at the MRT was interrupted by one breakdown or another, wreaking havoc among commuters reliant on rail. Maintenance just continues to deteriorate. This rail service is a disaster waiting to happen.

There were sketchy reports last week about money from the notorious “disbursement acceleration program” (DAP) allocated to buy new trains for the MRT. No trains were bought. The rail service continues to operate with a decreasing number of trains, bringing hell to commuters.

There could be a complex story behind that failure to upgrade the rail service. At the rate truth seems to be pouring out from many sources these days, we might finally get the whole story about a conspiracy to extort money from suppliers to this service.

Last Saturday, the chairman and CEO of the Czech railways supplier Inekon Group, Josef Husek, submitted his affidavit to the NBI concerning the $30 million extortion attempt on his company. The submission was reported only in this paper.

In his affidavit, Husek names MRT general manager Al Vitangcol, Manolo Maralit and Wilson de Vera as among those who tried to extort money from the Czech rail supplier. The head of Inekon named Czech ambassador to Manila Josef Rychter and Inekon COO Milan Haloun as having witnessed the meetings where the Vitangcol group tried to exact a bribe. Rychter, who is currently on home leave, left a taped interview with the BIR detailing the same story.

There is, likewise, another story about a separate group composed of influential individuals attempting to extort from Inekon. The conspiracy for this was allegedly hatched in 2010 and some of those involved were placed in key positions to influence MRT procurements.

At any rate, it seems rather odd that Maralit and de Vera eventually became partners of PH Trams-CB&T JV, the company that bagged the MRT maintenance contract from Sumitomo, the Japanese engineering firm that did the maintenance for the system from the start. Vitangcol, for his part, returned as MRT general manager notwithstanding the very serious charges leveled by the Czechs and discussed widely throughout the European Union.

PH Trams was appointed maintenance provider when Mar Roxas was DOTC secretary. During its term as service provider, several fires caused by faulty circuitry plagued the MRT. Because of its poor performance, the contract with PH Trams was discontinued.  Maintenance work for the rail line is now provided by Autre Porte Technique Global (APT Global). The annual service contract amounts to P685.04 million.

Maintenance is especially crucial in the case of the MRT. The trains are overworked. Of the original fleet, only 15 trains remain functional. The system was designed to move 350,000 people each day. Today, it is forced to ferry double that number of commuters with less trains.

During the time Sumitomo serviced the system, worn out wheels were quickly replaced. Since PH Trams and then APT took over, the worn out wheels were repaired by hand, causing the swaying of the wagons.

The severe spare parts shortage for the signaling system has not been addressed. Experts urge government to replace the obsolete signaling system. Maybe the DOTC is waiting for people to die first in overloaded carriages running on a faulty signaling system.

Pay them

For nearly three years now, Stradcom Corporation, the IT service provider for LTO has not been paid for services rendered. This was after a group of impostors, accompanied by LTO chief Virginia Torres attempted to seize the Stradcom offices

After the corporate seizure failed, Torres refused to pay Stradcom its share of the revenue for the information system it set up. The LTO chief claimed there were questions about who really owned Stradcom. Despite that, she urged the BIR to freeze Stradcom’s bank accounts for non-payment of taxes — even if the company lost P524 million for 2011.

To date, the amount of revenue due Stradcom but withheld by Torres exceeds P4 billion. The IT service provider had to borrow money to keep its operations running. Former DOTC secretary Jose de Jesus ordered Torres to pay the service provider. The LTO chief refused. Since even the President could do nothing to force Torres to comply, de Jesus resigned from the Cabinet.

Last September, after the case spawned by the claims of a group of impostors claiming ownership of Stradcom worked its way up the judicial system, the Supreme Court ruled with finality on the matter. The group led by Cesar Quiambao was determined owner of the corporation.

After Stradcom’s contract with the LTO expired, the corporation was not inclined to continue doing business with government after its harrowing experience with Torres. All biddings for a new contract failed, however, and Stradcom dutifully continued providing its IT services — notwithstanding it had to borrow money to keep going as Torres continued to deny the corporation just payments. Imagine the chaos if the IT provider ceased servicing LTO.

Virginia Torres defied three consecutive DOTC secretaries and brought all of them to grief. She tried to bring down her agency’s own IT provider, first by storming its offices and then by withholding payments. She defied the Civil Service Commission’s opinion regarding her gambling in the casinos. Will she now defy the Supreme Court after the tribunal ruled with finality on the Stradcom case?

Considering she continues to withhold payments to Stradcom weeks after the High Court ruled with finality, she might try.