MRT Development Corp. assails former ad concessionaire over unpaid bill

MANILA, Philippines - MRT Development Corp. (MRT DevCo) yesterday assailed what it claims is the latest attempt by their former advertising concessioner, Trackworks, to avoid payment of at least P367 million that it owed MRT DevCo as of December last year.

Company officials pointed out that Trackworks, whose services had been terminated for cause since September 2009, and which was upheld by the RTC in Makati and Pasig City, is desperately trying a new tack to evade payment of their debt by now falsely claiming that MRT DevCo in fact had no right to the advertising along the MRT-3 system. 

They cited a decision of the Supreme Court on Oct. 25, 2005 which noted that on Aug. 8, 1997, the Philippine government, through the Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC), entered into a build, lease and transfer (BLT) agreement with Metro Rail Transit Corp. and allowing it to obtain advertising income therefrom.

In its 2005 ruling, the SC prevented the Metro Manila Development Authority (MMDA) from illegally removing any of the advertising signages along the MRT-3 system.

MRT Group of Companies assistant vice president Arnold Laigo emphasized that it is very clear from the SC ruling that MRT DevCo exclusively owns the right to obtain advertising income from the MRT-3 system. 

“This latest attempt by Trackworks’ owner Lito de Joya to avoid paying his P367 million debt to MRT DevCo and to escape possible criminal action from advertisers he collected money from — in spite of the fact that Trackworks was no longer the advertising concessionaire for the MRT-3 system — has no basis in fact and had already been ruled with finality by the Supreme Court in its Oct 25, 2005 decision,” Laigo said.

Laigo pointed out that MRT DevCo had sufficiently warned advertisers that Trackworks had been terminated for non-payment of advertising fees as of September 2009, and is not liable for any unauthorized amounts paid by such unsuspecting advertisers to Trackworks.

He added that there have been attempts by Trackworks to still derive advertising revenues illegally. “But these advertising appliances will be removed immediately, given that all, advertising projects in the MRT-3 system are now coursed through MRT DevCo’s new advertising manager, Media Puzzle, Inc.,” he said.

MRT 3, which covers a 17-kilometer stretch of EDSA from North Edsa in Quezon City to Taft Avenue in Pasay City, has been cited globally as a model for public-private partnerships in the rail transit sector as well as a model in terms of ridership, with its daily commuters reaching almost a half-million people, the company noted.