Is Abaya overpromising this early?

For those of us who have been closely following developments at DOTC, it would seem that Sec. Joseph Abaya, like any politician, is starting to promise more than he can quickly deliver. He is raising expectations and setting us up for certain disappointment. Indeed, it is starting to look like he has not been adequately briefed by the DOTC bureaucracy or he is being misled for whatever ulterior motives.

I am still inclined to give Sec. Abaya the benefit of the doubt but he will have to get up to speed pretty quickly on what is what in his department. Otherwise, he may just embarrass himself and the Aquino administration as his early fumbles evolve into bigger mistakes.

Who can forget his early bold statement that MRT fares will definitely increase only to take it back somewhat some days later. Of course he had to clarify that the increase will only happen if there are visible improvements to the MRT service.

That condition Sec. Abaya imposed for a fare increase would be hard to deliver any time soon. If Mr. Abaya will be true to his words, there will probably be no fare increase almost up to the end of P-Noy’s term, if at all.

I don’t suppose visible improvement means the escalators at some MRT stations will start to work. I take visible improvement to mean less crowding in the trains. That can only happen if they add new trains. That is the hard part.

For one thing, you don’t go to a mall and buy MRT trains. These are custom made and pre-ordered for delivery a year or more down the road. So that when Sec. Abaya was headlined saying that government aims to buy 26 light rail vehicles no later than early next year to increase capacity at the Metro Rail Transit Line 3, he really is just expressing an intention. No way can he deliver quickly.

“Within the year or early next year, we will bid out 26 LRVs. We got an approval to purchase 52 trains,” Sec. Abaya declared. Sure, P-Noy has approved a proposal to buy those trains during Mar’s watch. But I would be pleasantly surprised if any new train materialized in the next two years.

As Abaya himself admitted, DOTC has yet to determine whether the consent of Metro Rail Transit Corp. (MRTC) is needed to buy those trains. And assuming MRTC agrees to let DOTC buy those trains, can government spend some P8.3 billion worth of capex to benefit a private company that still owns the system? How long will the public bidding take? Just getting agreement on the terms of reference should take months.

Under the build-lease-transfer agreement between the government and MRTC, the company has the right to expand the system. Then there are also some technical considerations. Do they ask the original Czech manufacturer to reproduce the same kind of trains or should they open up to other parties using an improved design? Can the rails, already much abused by today’s overloaded trains, take additional trains?

Sec. Abaya says he plans to meet with MRTC officials to thresh out legal issues surrounding MRT-3’s capacity expansion. That meeting should indeed take place right away. They can also discuss problems with the maintenance contract which DOTC recently awarded. I hear MRTC wasn’t too happy because that really falls under their area.

Abaya has also said his department will not likely allow MRTC to further conduct the bidding for the maintenance contract for the MRT-3. Is that really his call based on current legal considerations? Just because MRTC allowed them to bid out the interim maintenance contract doesn’t mean they won’t sue if DOTC insists on the regular contract too.

Indeed, a recent MRTC statement doesn’t sound they want DOTC to bid out the regular maintenance contract.

“MRTC is not abdicating its responsibility to maintain MRT3 but the DOTC left MRTC with no choice but to have DOTC take responsibility for the interim period. MRTC has advised DOTC that it is willing to resume the responsibility of maintaining the MRT3 after the expiration of the DOTC’s interim maintenance contract, provided MRTC is given sufficient time to undertake a proper selection process.

“The MRTC board agreed to extend all cooperation and assistance to the DOTC in appointing a new interim maintenance provider for MRT 3, so that all the critical issues raised by Sumitomo in respect of the maintenance of the MRT 3 may be addressed immediately.”

So it doesn’t seem to me Sec. Abaya can soon deliver on his promise to increase capacity at MRT-3 by 60 to 70 percent. Sec Abaya must thresh things out amicably with MRTC. Any legal complications can only work against the public interest.

Indeed, Sec. Abaya’s brave announcement that he will de-privatize MRT 3 isn’t that simple either to implement. If he pursues that strategy, a legal battle will ensure no improvement will happen between now and even beyond the end of P-Noy’s term. I doubt if the already creaky system and the cranky abused commuters can last that long.

MRT-3 needs to be rehabilitated right away. That fire last Saturday on a train at the Kamuning station should be a warning of even more serious accidents that could cost lives if nothing happens soon.

As for Sec. Abaya’s statement that changes are needed in the design for the common station between SM City North Edsa and Trinoma, he is probably right. But what commuters really want to know is what immediate action the Secretary will institute so that the common station can finally be used.

It is silly to have an expensive infrastructure not fully completed for more than two years. If Sec. Abaya must mediate problems with SM and Ayala so that common station can be completed, he must do so quickly.

Over all, it is not enough for Sec. Abaya to make remarks on each and every long delayed DOTC project. He has to tell the public what can be expected from him in the immediate future. Otherwise, we are just wasting saliva and news print.

Investments

I received this reaction from Leo Tecson.

I read your column re FDI in the Philippines which reached $1 billion up to September.  FOREIGN INVESTMENT IN INDONESIA JUMPS 22 percent, the FDI received by Indonesia for one quarter, July to September amounted to $5.9 billion.  I read this in the Wall Street Journal, Asia Edition last Oct. 23, 2012.  We are certainly way behind Indonesia when it comes to foreign investments.

Our manufacturing sector is contracting and manufacturing is the only hope for the poor. The main problems of manufacturing in this country are:

1. STRONG PESO.

2. HIGH POWER RATES.

3. HIGH MINIMUM WAGE.

The STRONG PESO could be addressed by putting up a sovereign fund and prepaying some of our debts like the huge debts of Napocor.

HIGH POWER RATES can be solved by the proposed 600-MW power plant to be set up in Subic by Aboitiz Power. Subic and Clark should be an industrial zone and the proposed power plant should sell directly to the manufacturing plants in these areas and their excess power can be sold to the grid. 

You mentioned that former NEDA chairman Gerardo Sicat is proposing labor free zones. The HIGH MINIMUM WAGE problem can be solved by declaring industrial zones as free zones with no minimum wage. 

Singapore has the highest per capita income in Asia and it has no minimum wage, same as Hong Kong and Malaysia until two years ago.  We are following a suicidal policy by raising our minimum wage every year.  This is a dictation of the Left economic saboteurs which our politicians blindly follow.

Our unemployment/underemployment rate is from 25 percent to more than 34 percent per report of SWS, while government statistics show only a seven percent unemployment rate. 

A member of our EGroup, former BCDA chairman Rufo Colayco, said that a former ambassador of Singapore approached him several years ago for a proposed joint venture between Singapore and the Philippines to attract manufacturers to Subic and Clark. 

Manufacturing jobs are the only hope for the poor since they cannot be employed in the BPO Industry nor can they work as OFW. Our unemployment and poverty rates did not improve during the current administration because P-Noy’s government is not addressing this issue.

Come again?

Robin Tong shared this one.

A surgeon went to check on his patient after an operation.

“You’ll be fine,” he said.

She asked, “How long will it be before I am able to have a normal sex life again doctor?”

The surgeon seemed to pause, which alarmed the girl.

“What’s the matter Doctor? I will be all right, won’t I?”

He replied, “Yes, you’ll be fine--It’s just that no one has ever asked me that after having their tonsils out.”

 Boo Chanco’s e-mail address is [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @boochanco