LRTA chief eyes eco sabotage case vs contractor

Light Rail Transit Authority administrator Teodoro Cruz Jr. is aiming to file economic sabotage charges against Technirail-Transurb S.A., a Belgian based contractor, of Raja Sulayman Building, Benavides St., legazpi Village, Makati City, after a continuous planned attempt to derail operations was uncovered by its chief civil security.

Cruz said the investigation conducted by retired Commodore Ernesto Garzon was a prima facie evidence that an attempt to sabotage the LRT’s operations could not be tolerated by the authority.

"I have directed Atty. Mendoza to finalize the charges and bring the suit to the court for proper disposition," Cruz said.

Garzon reported that a manipulation of Technirail could result to such sabotage. "By technicalities, the investigation showed that the power source coming from the substation can easily be downloaded and thereby caused to underload in the supply of power which is insufficient to run the train," Garzon said.

LRTA chief legal counsel Zosimo Mendoza said they would base the suit on the official report by Garzon which was submitted on March 4, to Cruz. Mendoza said the sabotage attempt was investigated by the authority when some of the technical engineers gave information that Technirail was inducing them to delay the regular movement of the trains in its morning operations.

"It was evident when the series of delays of our trains took place the past weeks affecting hundreds of regular commuters," Mendoza said. He said the sabotage charges will be filed within the week before the Pasay City Regional Trial Court.

Any planned attempt to sabotage any operation of government agencies is criminally punishable as directed by law.

Technirail allegedly started to spoil the image of LRTA by feeding to the media false information about the maintenance and technical operations after its contract was terminated by the LRTA Board chaired by Transportation and Communications Secretary Leandro Mendoza on April 30.

"The move was to intimidate the LRTA so that they could regain an extension of the contract," an LRTA official said.

The STAR learned that Technirail is also one of the bidders in the on-going bidding evaluation for the new maintenance contractor of the LRT.

Technirail was considered tax delinquent as it has unpaid taxes composed of deficiency income tax, deficiency value added tax, and deficiency withholding tax totaling to more than P36 million in 1999 alone, according to Makati City Internal Revenue assistant regional director Anselmo Adriano.

Adriano ordered Technirail to settle their tax duty to the government until Dec. 31.

Cruz said that in 2002, Technirail’s records showed that a total of 37 troubles had transpired which resulted in service interruptions. In January until the contract was terminated on April 30, eight technical problems happened. Technirail was also ordered to pay a fine of more than P8 million for causing damage to LRTA’s trains in years 2001 and 2002.

"It’s biggest mistake committed was the miscommunication between control center and a train driver that caused the collision of two trains. Technirail was made to pay P4.6 million for the damage," Cruz said.

Cruz said the termination of Technirail’s contract was based on dismal performance, aside from an attempted sabotage as reported by the chief security.

Cruz said the LRTA Board has an emergency meeting scheduled on May 28 to tackle the evaluation of bidding for the new maintenance contractor.