Private firm should manage MRT-3, says lawmaker

MANILA, Philippines - A lawmaker believes the Metro Rail Transit (MRT) trains have serious maintenance problems, and that charging the two drivers of the trains involved in an accident last Aug. 13 is not enough.

Valenzuela City Rep. Sherwin Gatchalian reiterated his call for the private management of MRT-3 as the government has a very bad track record in managing utilities and public transport.

A private operator would manage the mass transit systems better than a government agency, he added.

Gatchalian said a private firm would hit high performance targets, including proper maintenance of trains to ensure public safety and durability.

“A private management firm will handle daily operations efficiently because it is being paid by the government to do so,” he said. “It will be in charge of operations and maintenance, and if it does not follow performance targets, it will be penalized.”

A private operator of MRT-3 will also decrease patronage politics as the hired firm will have to focus on delivering excellent services or else be replaced by another management firm, Gatchalian said.

Check maintenance records

Another lawmaker wants to look into the record of the former long-time MRT maintenance provider when the House of Representatives committee on transportation investigates the MRT.

Kabataan Rep. Terry Ridon, a committee member, said Secretary Joseph Emilio Abaya must be made to answer for the Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC)’s inaction on the reported transgressions of Sumitomo-TES Philippines as MRT maintenance sub-contractor since its opening in 1999 up to October 2012.

The recent persistent systems glitches plaguing the MRT were a result of “poor government oversight coupled with lax management,” he added.

Ridon said that as early as last year, the DOTC and MRT Corp. were in possession of a report of former interim maintenance contractor CB&T-PH Trams which detailed the structural defects in MRT structures.

“Secretary Abaya and the MRTC have known for a long time that the MRT is suffering from structural defects that need to be immediately addressed even before it awarded the maintenance contract to APT Global last September,” he said.

“While APT Global must also be held accountable for the recent incident, the buck also passes to MRTC, Secretary Abaya, and the national government for neglecting the train line for so long.

“It is enraging to note that public funds amounting to P4 billion are annually given to MRT as subsidy for mass transport.

“For 2015, it’s P4.7 billion. The public is subsidizing the MRT, yet it isn’t getting the good and efficient service it deserves, no thanks to DOTC and the national government’s criminal negligence.”

Ridon said due to perfunctory oversight and management, DOTC has for the large part ignored the poor maintenance work performed by long-time MRT3 maintenance contractor Sumitomo-TES.

“Aside from ignoring the blunders of Sumitomo, DOTC has not done the best it could to address the deteriorating state of the MRT,” he said.

Ridon said his sources disclosed to him that the DOTC dragged its feet on the procurement of essential train parts to ensure that the contract would be awarded to contractors who would give the biggest kickbacks.

“A congressional investigation is in the works to expose such reprehensible deeds, and hold officials and contractors who neglected their jobs accountable for the decrepit state of the MRT,” he said.

“Congress also needs to review the BLT agreement between DOTC and MRTC signed in 1997 and look at the provisions on warranties for us to determine if the government can exact liability from Sumitomo for its perfunctory maintenance of the MRT.

“The riding public is angry and frustrated. Billions of public funds are going to waste because of inefficiencies and negligence, coupled with the substandard maintenance work done by private contractors.

“Privatization promised efficient management and quality service, but we have yet to experience such. The Filipino people deserve to have a safe, efficient and quality train line system, and we must hold accountable people and corporations that prevented our people from enjoying such.”

Everyday human errors?

MRT Holdings spokesman David Narvasa said yesterday the DOTC must look into the performance of MRT-3’s maintenance provider as “it cannot be that almost everyday or every week there is a case of human error.”

MRT Holdings owns of the MRT, while the DOTC operates the system and Autre Porte Technique Global Inc (APT Global) is the maintenance provider.

Narvasa was referring to the DOTC’s conclusion that driver and human error caused one of the trains to overshoot the MRT station on Taft Avenue Pasay City last Aug. 13.

“There might have been human error on the part of the driver on Aug. 13,” he said.

“But last Friday, another MRT train stalled in Santolan; on Sunday, another problem happened near Buendia. It cannot be that almost everyday there is a case of human error.

“The question that should have been answered was: why did the train stall? Why was there a lapse in the maintenance in the system that opened it up to human error? This should never happen.”

Narvasa said no such accidents occurred while the MRT was under maintenance by Sumitomo Corp. for 12 years.

Frederick Parayno, MRT Holdings vice president for technical services, said the DOTC had ignored their safety and audit recommendations when the agency replaced Sumitomo as maintenance provider. – With Rainier Allan Ronda, Lawrence Agcaoili