Yesterday, its second hearing was conducted were previous officials of the discontinued Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) and the MRT-3, and executives of the Department of
Transportation (DOTr) attended.
The MRT 3 issue started during Mar Roxas term as the DILG Secretary and the issues continued even till the new secretary took over. The train often breakdowns and accidents still occurs, these issues were found to have rooted from the alleged inefficiency and corruption of the DOTC and MRT-3 which happened on the last administration.
“I think this will be his chance to explain himself [Mar Roxas],” Senator Grace Poe said.
Former MRT-3 General Manager Al Vitangcol testified that he sent a letter to Mar Roxas on May 12 where he informed him that the maintenance contract with Sumitomo Corp was expiring and an immediate act is needed.
He also stated that Mar Roxas was also infomred by the MRT Corp. abou the same matter and asked him to search for a new maintenance supplier to get things done faster.
Unfortunately, Roxas did nothing about this. So when Joseph Emilio Abaya took over on Sept. 2012, the issue became mores serious tap the services of PH Trams, APT Global and Busan Universal Rail Inc. (BURI).
Train breakdowns were caused by the lack of available parts which will be use to replace old parts for the train mechanism.
DOTr Undersecretary Cesar Chavez stated that the three firsm had only six to a year contract, which started suspicions that the firms did no intend to obtain parts.
“I would like to know from former secretary Roxas why did he allow the Sumitomo contract to lapse,” Poe said.
The three firms were allegedly given the contracts in exchange to Mar Roxas' financiers during the election campaign on 2016.
The DOTr announced that due to the poor performance of BURI, the P3.8-billion contract will be cancelled.
Source; PhilStar
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