DOTr bares persons of interest in MRT sabotage

MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Transportation (DOTr) has identified several persons of interest who may be responsible for the decoupling of Metro Rail Transit (MRT) train cars last Thursday.

Cesar Chavez, DOTr undersecretary for railways, said the identification of these persons gave weight to the claim that someone is trying to sabotage MRT-3 operations.

He refused to identify these persons pending the probe of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) to determine the motives behind the incident that forced hundreds of commuters to walk to the next station.

The decoupled cars’ messma card, which records all interventions to the trains, has been missing since Thursday. Investigators believe the card will shed light on why the train cars decoupled.  

Chavez believes the suspects resorted to hiding the card either to cover up the problematic train operations or to ruin it.

Train cars, he added, could not be easily detached because these are mechanically connected to one another. Decoupling occurs when someone intervenes or intentionally detaches the coaches. 

DOTr recently terminated its contract with Busan Universal Rail Inc. (BURI), the MRT-3 service provider, due to alleged poor performance.

The MRT-3 transition team (MTT) was then created to temporarily work on train maintenance while waiting for the next service provider. 

BURI lawyer Maricris Pahate denied that her firm has anything to do with the incident, pointing out that all maintenance works were turned over to MTT immediately after the contract ended.

She hinted though that the incident was bound to happen due to the mismatch of train couplers, which connect the coaches to each other.

“The connections are not the usual male-to-female couplers. Instead, they now have male-to-male couplers, which could easily decouple during heavy vibrations,” Pahate explained in Filipino.

To put the MRT trains on intensive maintenance works, the DOTr cut down the number of running trains from 17 to 15 and shortened its operating schedule by one hour.

Although no technical problem was noted yesterday, the MRT-3 service status showed 10 technical problems since Saturday last week. 

The MRT-3 made headlines last week after some train doors failed to open, train cars decoupled and the fall of commuter Angeline Fernandez into the train coupler, resulting in the loss of her right arm.

Emergency powers

Presidential Communications Sec. Martin Andanar is pushing to give DOTr Sec. Arthur Tugade emergency powers to address the major roadblocks in improving the services of the LRT and MRT systems and choosing service providers.

“Hopefully, the emergency powers will be granted since this is what the President and our secretary for transportation had requested, especially at this time that Christmas season is coming,” Andanar said over state run Radyo ng Pilipinas.

At the start of his term, President Duterte was keen on giving Tugade special powers to solve the traffic problems in Metro Manila. 

But if he would be given his way, Magdalo party-list Rep. Gary Alejano would rather have Tugade resign from his post.

“With his dismal performance, he should consider quitting. Otherwise, we might continue to experience what we have going through right now – the MRT-3 fiasco and traffic mess,” Alejano said.

Bayan Muna Rep. Carlos Zarate and other leftist lawmakers are also urging the government to fully take over MRT-3, including its contentious ownership.

While the government is operating the MRT-3, the privately owned MRT Corp. (MRTC) is its builder and owner.

Although both Land Bank and Development Bank of the Philippines hold about 90 percent of MRTC bonds, they are not considered owners of MRTC, which now wants to regain maintenance of the facility after DOTr cancelled its contract with BURI.

A government takeover was also considered during the previous administration, but the Senate struck the proposition down. –Christina Mendez, Jess Diaz