Senate urged to offer solutions to MRT-3 woes

MANILA, Philippines - Isabela Rep. Rodolfo Albano lll urged the Senate yesterday to offer solutions to the problems plaguing Metro Rail Transit 3, the breakdown-prone rail line along Edsa.

He made the appeal after the Senate decided to delete from the 2015 national budget the P53.4-billion appropriation for the planned government takeover-buyout of MRT-3 from state and private investors.

Sen. Francis Escudero, Senate finance committee chairman, informed congressmen of the decision on Thursday during the bicameral conference on the proposed P2.606-trillion budget for next year.

Albano said the Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) sees the takeover-buyout plan as the solution to the problems facing MRT-3, including frequent breakdowns and the need to upgrade the system.

“That is why they have requested for funding. President Aquino obviously supports their plan because he included the proposing funding in his 2015 budget proposal, which the House of Representatives approved. Now here comes the Senate deleting that appropriation. They cannot do that without offering solutions to MRT-3 problems,” he said.

Albano has supported the takeover-buyout plan.

Escudero has said the Senate deleted the P53.9-billion appropriation because none of it would be allocated for the maintenance of the Edsa rail line.

He said the entire amount would just go to Land Bank and Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP), which hold 80 percent of the bonds sold by the original investors led by the Sobrepeñas of financially troubled College Assurance Plan, a pre-need industry pioneer that is under rehabilitation.

He said the planned buyout would not stop lawsuits against the government.

Albano admitted that the funding proposal for the buyout plan submitted by Transportation Secretary Joseph Emilio Abaya to the House did not include money for MRT-3 maintenance.

“But that is because the House has included maintenance funds in the 2015 budget. And there is an additional P957 million for the same purpose in the P22.5-billion 2014 supplemental budget,” he said.

As for the money going to the two state banks, which have spent more than $600 million to buy the bulk of MRT-3 bonds, Albano said there is nothing wrong with it.

“Does the Senate want the maintenance and ownership issues to persist for the next 10 years? If it does not agree to the government takeover-buyout plan, what solution does the Senate advocate? Do they want taxpayers to continue shelling out $12 million (P536 million) a month plus 15-percent interest in rental for the system?” he asked.

Abaya has assured the House that P53.9 billion would be enough for Land Bank, DBP and the Sobrepeña group.

He said the DOTC arrived at that amount using a formula contained in the contract between the government and investors.

He said buying the system now would be more advantageous for taxpayers than continuing the guaranteed monthly rental of $12 million plus 15-percent interest up to 2025.

He said the buyout plan would save taxpayers about P36 billion.