Red tape and frivolous TROs prejudice public interest

Let’s hope that the interconnection of the North Luzon Expressway (NLEx) with the Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway (SCTEx), and eventually with the Tarlac-Pangasinan-La Union Expressway (TPLEx),will ease in the future the long trip to Baguio and other parts of North Luzon.

Last weekend, during the visit of French President Francois Hollande, and in the presence of President Aquino, the Manila North Tollways Corp. (MNTC) signed a much-delayed contract with the state-run Bases Conversion and Development Authority (BCDA) to manage, operate and maintain the SCTEx.

This celebrated contract signing came on the heels of another agreement, signed early in February between MNTC and BCDA for the integration of the toll collection systems of NLEx and SCTEx, thus facilitating a single system that will allow faster travel time for motorists.

A French firm, EGIS Projects SA, owns 10 percent of MNTC, and is part of a consortium that will provide the toll equipment that will upgrade the SCTEx facilities.

It’s ironic that such a state visit had to be one of the compelling reasons to speed up the resolution of this project that had been delayed for over three years already ever since a price challenge was issued against MNTC in 2011.

Price challenge

What could have been so complicated in conducting a price challenge that it took the government more than three years to conclude a contract that has cost the public so much misery, especially during long breaks where the roads to Baguio get clogged all the way from NLEx and from Baguio back to Manila?

I remember that Senator Franklin Drilon was fuming mad during the last extended Christmas-New Year break when he and his family had to endure eight hours of traffic just because they had to queue several times at the different toll way booths to pass through to get to their destination.

All of these, in the interest of all the motoring public, could have been avoided if only the government had acted fast enough in resolving a simple problem like the price challenge.

BCDA and MNTC had signed the operating agreement covering the management and operation of SCTEx in 2011, and the actual price challenge took place only in February 2015.

Red tape or harassment

We all are aware that the current administration is ultra sensitive about going into contracts that may be labeled as not transparent and fair, but to drag on a process like this for more than three years sounds like that bureaucratic pest called red tape.

Others may even misconstrue that what happened is harassment in the highest order, especially when rumors are circulating that P-Noy (or someone in his office) has always been cool, even not happy, about contracts that any of Manuel V. Pangilinan’s companies are involved in.

The “meddling” of the Office of the President in the delayed BCDA-MNTC contract is purportedly just one of the many incidents that the MVP group had to suffer in recent years.

Slow pace

Red tape is something that this current government is becoming associated with, and is the reason why there is such a slow pace in the approval and execution of Public-Private Partnership agreements that have long been given priority by the National Economic Development Authority.

Unfortunately, it’s not just the Executive branch of government that shares the guilt in condoning or even encouraging these bureaucratic delays. Even the Legislative and the Judiciary are equally to blame.

Professing to act in the interest of making better laws, our honorable senators and congressmen pounce on “questionable” contracts and beat and batter these to shreds in the halls of Congress. Oftentimes, it just becomes unproductive and without any real benefit to the public interest.

Even the courts are oftentimes guilty of this kind of meddling. Just recently, the Supreme Court was asked to stop the P70-billion Light Rail Transit project involving its 11.7 kilometers extension to Cavite. Does the Supreme Court really need to get involved in this?

The petitioner had asked the Supreme Court to issue a temporary restraining order (TRO) that prohibited the Department of Transportation and Communications, the Light Rail Transit Authority and the Light Rail Manila Consortium from proceeding with the deal that was signed in October 2014.

The High Court was asked to nullify the deal because it violated the Build-Operate-Transfer Law limiting the government’s financial exposure to only 50 percent of the project cost, and for being “overpriced” if compared to the 5.71-kilometer LRT-MRT North extension project then priced at P6.3 billion.

There ought to be a law banning the filing of cases involving contracts signed between the government and private parties, especially if these were done with enough transparency. Why wait four months after the contract has been signed before asking the High Court to issue a TRO? Why not get involved at the onset?

Public interest

If the Supreme Court would step in, ultimately, it would be the riding public that becomes most prejudiced by atrocious delaying tactics purportedly made in the name of justice and fair play. How many signed contracts have been delayed in the past by the High Court, ultimately to be given the green signal after a review?

It is high time that government sets up what would really be a strong basis for awarding contracts, one that would be infallible to delaying tactics especially by masquerading public interest advocates.

Let the government ombudsman and interested private citizens work on an acceptable standard that would ensure that business contracts for public projects are signed and approved after all questions on possible irregularities are openly addressed.

It is good to see a healthy democratic system where a citizen can stand up and question wrongdoings, but there must be equal protection also for investors that went through the proper procedures to clinch a contract.

Ultimately, delays in such projects cost more money, and derail the country’s progress in achieving its desired economic growth. If we don’t do anything to stop red tape from engulfing our bureaucracy, we’ll find ourselves once again in the region’s trash bin, and other neighboring countries leaping ahead of us.

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