Palace: Al Vitangcol should spill the beans on MRT

MANILA, Philippines — As the administration looks deeper into the accountability of former Aquino administration officials, presidential spokesman Harry Roque has not discounted the possibility that former Metro Rail Transit (MRT-3) general manager Al Vitangcol will be among those that might be recommended to provide information to the National Bureau of Investigation.

“It’s now in the process of investigation, and this is what I promised to do. I have some documentary evidence already. Perhaps beginning next week, I will devote one day a week in disclosing facts and details about the plunder of MRT-3,” Roque said.

Some potential whistle-blowers, he claimed, have surfaced to link ex-officials to anomalies in the P3.8-billion MRT-3 maintenance contract with Busan Universal Rail Inc. (BURI).

He added that he is in the process of scrutinizing the documents provided to him by the whistle-blowers.

Although refusing to divulge what the alleged documents contain, he claimed that the NBI has started to look into the matter and has taken some sworn statements.

“I have the documents already. I’m just giving notice to the NBI and DOJ [Department of Justice] before I go public with the documents. But I promised that this will be a continuing activity that we will have here, and which is dissecting the plunder of MRT-3,” Roque said.

Asked if the former MRT general manager will also be called to testify against the Aquino Cabinet officials, he said Vitangcol should come out with his exposés.

Vitangcol is facing charges before the Sandiganbayan for his alleged attempt to extort $30 million from a Czech light rail vehicles supplier and for irregularities in the transit system’s interim maintenance contract.

Roque’s move comes as President Duterte directed the filing of new charges against some officials of the previous administration and other individuals over the poor state of the MRT. He added that this is without prejudice to the Department of Transportation (DOTr)’s plunder charge against nine officials of the Aquino administration before the Office of the Ombudsman.

“We are hoping that the ombudsman is conducting its own parallel investigation because an official complaint has already been filed,” Roque said.

According to him, it is only recently that the whistle-blowers provided information and talked of a “Pangasinan group” that benefitted from two-thirds of the payment given to BURI.

These witnesses reportedly claimed that one-third of the total contract payments went to the group, another third went to the political machinery while the remaining portion is what was spent for the maintenance of MRT-3.