Cuisia’s ‘undiplomatic’ ways

Philippines Inc. chairman Antonio “Tonyboy” Cojuangco will head an “eminent group” of businessmen who will be leaving for Washington D.C. at the end of this month to meet with some US senators at Capitol Hill. Joining Mr. Cojuangco are members of the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the Makati Business Club as well as notable business leaders like Antonio “Mort” Lopa, president of Philippines Inc.

Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario supports the initiative and schedule permitting, is expected to join the “eminent group” who are all using their own resources to help promote the Philippines in Washington. In fact, US Ambassador to the Philippines Philip Goldberg hosted the business group at the embassy residence and is happy that this trip would generate more investment opportunities for businessmen from both countries.

Organizing the trip is Washington-based think tank Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS)’ Pacific Partners Initiative director Ernest Bower. According to Spy Bits sources, Bower had a meeting with Philippine Ambassador to the US Joey Cuisia regarding the Washington visit of the Philippine business group. The Asia Pacific expert and BowerGroupAsia president and CEO was reportedly surprised to hear Cuisia make some undiplomatic comments against the group. Our source simply dismissed the Philippine ambassador’s comments as “KSP” or “kulang sa pansin.”

The fact is Joey Cuisia still has not learned the art of diplomacy – despite having been on the job for more than three years. But then again, some people never really learn.

Allan Purisima (AP) equals (AP) Attitude Problem

Even someone as gracious as Sen. Grace Poe is fast losing her patience with PNP director general Alan Purisima, who was a “no show” at the Senate hearing on public order and dangerous drugs relative to the PNP modernization plan. Poe’s irritation was evident when she suspended the hearing, warning Purisima that it will continue to be suspended until the PNP chief shows up and answers inquiries about the peace and order situation himself.

A senatorial staff member who refuses to be identified told Spy Bits that Alan Purisima really lives up to his initials of “A. P.” because he has an “Attitude Problem” – going by his penchant for snubbing the committee hearings called by legislators from both Congress and Senate. Last month, “AP” earned the ire of Ilocos Norte Rep. Rudy Fariñas for repeatedly snubbing the House Committee on Good Government and Public Accountability hearings regarding the House resolution filed by Rep. Fariñas on alleged anomalous transactions involving high-ranking officials of the PNP.

Some friends from media were also complaining that Purisima does not return calls whenever an important national issue needs to be answered. It looks like Purisima is turning off more and more people because of his “attitude problem.”

DOTC boo-boos

The bright boys at the Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) continue to shift the blame on everyone else except themselves for the MRT mess that is putting the lives of MRT passengers in danger. Contrary to Transport Secretary Jun Abaya’s statements, it’s not really MRT Corp. (MRTC) that is the culprit for this transport problem that began during the time of President Gloria Arroyo, and has gotten worse during the successive stints of Mar Roxas and Jun Abaya as DOTC chief, with the latter admitting that the increase in the number of glitches has been “alarming.”

The fact of the matter is, MRT3 is a disaster waiting to happen because of official corruption, incompetence or negligence, if not all three. Not many know that it was DOTC that took over the maintenance work in 2012 after dumping longtime contractor Sumitomo and “requesting” MRTC to surrender its job of selecting the operation and maintenance service provider, and then awarding an interim contract to an unqualified and undercapitalized company through a negotiated arrangement instead of the mandatory public bidding. It can be recalled that then-MRT general manager Al Vitangcol Jr. suddenly announced in an MRTC Board meeting in 2012 that Sumitomo’s contract, which was about to expire, would no longer be extended, and that DOTC wanted a new operation and maintenance contractor in its place.

In any case, DOTC executives need to have their heads examined if they still insist in suing MRTC given that seven of the 11-member Board of Directors are government officials. On the contrary, it is the DOTC executives themselves who should be haled to court for criminal negligence – for allowing this EDSA train service to deteriorate to the point of endangering the lives of over half a million Filipino commuters daily, our insider source claimed.

All of these problems could have been mitigated if DOTC/LRTA had not ignored the previous proposals of the MRTH/MRTC for upgrades in anticipation of reaching the 350,000-passenger design capacity of the MRT. In 2011, MPIC also made a proposal to provide additional trains, upgrade, and improve the system and extend the MRT-3 system to Monumento at no cost to the government. Instead, the DOTC chose to acquire 48 light rail vehicles from Dalian Locomotive – which may not be compatible with the existing structure of the MRT-3. Another potential boo-boo that could prove disastrous in the end, our source commented.

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