DOTC urged to blacklist contractor for MRT maintenance

MANILA, Philippines - The Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) was urged yesterday to blacklist a maintenance contractor for the Metro Rail Transit (MRT)  line 3 along EDSA that was ordered investigated by the ombudsman.

Rep. Terry Ridon of party-list group Kabataan said the joint venture PH Trams-Comm Builders and Technology Corp. should no longer be allowed to participate in future biddings either as one entity or individually.

He said the DOTC should also blacklist its present MRT-3 maintenance provider, Autre Porte Technique Global, Inc. (APT Global) whose representative, Marlo de la Cruz, also represents and was an incorporator of PH Trams.

“The Office of the Ombudsman’s decision to conduct a preliminary investigation on the awarding of the maintenance contracts for MRT-3 proves that there is probable cause in this case. We now call on the DOTC to summarily blacklist the companies involved in the maintenance of the MRT-3, including APT Global, the current maintenance contractor,” he said.

“The DOTC, as the operator of the MRT-3, and the Metro Rail Transit Corp., as the supposed private owner of the EDSA rail line, and APT Global and former maintenance contractors should be held liable for the poor maintenance of the MRT-3. All ways to exact accountability and justice should be done, including the blacklisting of the companies involved,” he added.

Last week, the ombudsman ordered Transportation Secretary Joseph Emilio Abaya investigated for graft for entering into an allegedly anomalous maintenance contract for MRT-3 worth P517 million with PH Trams-CB&T in October 2012.

Also ordered investigated were former MRT-3 general manager Al Vitangcol III; and Undersecretaries Jose Perpetuo Lotilla, Rene Limcaoco and Rafael Antonio Santos, Assistant Secretaries Ildefonso Patdu and Dante Lantin, and Light Rail Transit Authority administrator Honorito Chaneco, who were members of the bids and awards committee.

Likewise covered by the order were negotiating team members Misael Narca, Joel Magbanua, Arnel Manresa, Natividad Sansolis, Gina Rodriguez, Eugene Cecilio, Raphael Lavides and Geronimo Quintos, and representatives of CB&T-PH Trams Wilson de Vera, Arturo Soriano, Marlo de la Cruz, Manolo Maralit and Federico Remo.

Soriano, a Pangasinan provincial government official, is an uncle of Vitangcol’s wife.

According to the results of a preliminary inquiry conducted by the ombudsman’s office, the Sumitomo contract was entered into in December 1997 and was to expire on June 21, 2010 but was extended up to October 2012. – With Lawrence Agcaoili