DOTC vows to fight court order vs purchase of new coaches

MANILA, Philippines - The Department of Transportation and Communications on Wednesday vowed to fight the temporary order of protection issued by the Makati City court, halting the procurement of new coaches for the Metro Rail Transit 3.

"We will fight for the interest of the hundreds of thousands of MRT-3 riders who have been waiting for more LRVs (light rail vehicles) for too long.  At the time when government is finally ready to deliver these projects, the public good is now being held hostage by a private company," DOTC spokesperson Michael Arthur Sagcal said.

Earlier, the Makati Regional Trial Court issued a 20-day Temporary Order of Protection, barring t government from adding coaches to the country’s most-heavily congested rail transit line.

The court order names the Metro Rail Transit Corp.,  which owns the MRT-3 facilities, and Metro Rail Transit Holdings II Inc., one of its affiliated companies, as the petitioners.

However, a member of the MRTC Board of Directors told DOTC that the MRTC has no part in this issuance.

According to the director, "the Board of MRTC never issued a resolution authorizing the filing of a case against DOTC to restrain the procurement of LRVs."

The DOTC awarded the MRT-3 Capacity Expansion Project to China’s Dalian Locomotive and Rolling Stock Co. on Jan. 16.

Under the contract, Dalian is supposed to construct and deliver 48 new LRVs to the MRT-3 line over the next three years.

The DOTC expects to speed up the railway system's operations,from its current operation of three-car trains arriving every three minutes to four-car trains arriving every two-and-a-half  minutes.

As this developed, the House of Representatives’ Committee on Transportation also convened on Wednesday to tackle the government’s rail transport concerns and programs. 

At the panel hearing, the DOTC reported that it is preparing for the Makati RTC hearing scheduled on Feb. 7 before Judge Joselito Villarosa.

The Office of the Solicitor General will represent the DOTC at the hearing and will explain the need for the project in light of the public good, as well as government’s position on the court order.