EDITORIAL - Broken system

Four years after an investigation was initiated, the Office of the Ombudsman has ordered the indictment of former transport secretary Joseph Emilio Abaya and 16 others for graft in connection with a P4.25-billion contract awarded to Busan Universal Rail Inc. or BURI for the upgrade and maintenance of the Metro Rail Transit Line 3.

The ombudsman explained that Abaya was spared from the heavier offense of plunder because there was no evidence that the former transport chief personally gained at least P50 million from the MRT 3 deal. Also spared from a plunder indictment, which normally does not allow bail, were Abaya’s predecessor as transport chief, Mar Roxas, as well as several other former Cabinet members of the Aquino administration.

The case does not cover another MRT 3 maintenance deal awarded when Abaya was just starting out as transport chief to Philippine Trans Rail Management and Services Corp. or PH Trams, which preceded the contract awarded to BURI. PH Trams, whose incorporators included an uncle-in-law of former MRT 3 head Al Vitangcol III and Liberal Party fundraisers in Pangasinan, had a paid-up capital of only P625,000. The company was set up less than two months before bagging the maintenance contract without bidding for $1.15 million a month.

PH Trams executives face accusations of trying to extort $30 million from a Czech company for the maintenance deal, in the presence of the Czech ambassador assigned to Manila at the time. When the Czechs refused to pay up, PH Trams was awarded the maintenance deal.

MRT commuters continue to suffer from the consequent deterioration of the light railway service. The wheels of justice as usual are grinding exceedingly slow. While a court indictment is a positive step, more effort is needed to speed up the prosecution and punishment of those responsible for the MRT disaster. Authorities must show that the justice system is not as broken as the MRT 3.