New plunder complaints may be filed vs individuals over MRT mess: Roque

March 6, 2018

Malacanang said on Tuesday new plunder complaints may be filed against certain individuals who could be responsible in the Metro Rail Transit (MRT) 3 mess.

In a press briefing, Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque said during the Cabinet meeting, which President Rodrigo Duterte presided over on Monday in Malacanang, the MRT-3 problems were discussed.

"There was a decision that cases will be pursued for those behind the miserable performance of MRT 3," he said.

He said the possible charges were on top of the pending complaints for plunder against officials of the previous administration, "specifically for awarding the maintenance contract to a company with absolutely no track record." Roque was referring to Busan Universal Rail Inc. (BURI).

The Duterte administration terminated last year the contract with BURI to maintain MRT-3.

"There could be other new ones. Because apparently, the problem lies not just with BURI, the problem also lies with the current owners of MRT3," Roque said when new cases would be filed against erring officials.

He said Duterte tasked Solicitor General Jose Calida to study the possible filing of new cases.

Last year, the Department of Transportation (DOTr) filed a plunder complaint against the Cabinet officials of former President Benigno Aquino III over the alleged anomalous contract on MRT 3 maintenance before the Office of the Ombudsman

Among those charged were former Interior Secretary Manuel “Mar” Roxas II, Transportation Secretary Joseph Emilio “Jun” Abaya, former Budget Secretary Butch Abad, former Finance Secretary Cesar Purisima, former Energy Secretary Jericho Petilla, former Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin, former Public Works Secretary Rogelio Singson, former Science and Technology Secretary Mario Montejo, and former National Economic Development Authority chief Arsenio Balisacan.

As a short-term solution to MRT 3 problem, Roque said the DOTr has purchased all the necessary spare parts.

For a medium-term solution, the government would enter into a maintenance contract with Sumitomo Corp. and for a long term, change of ownership of MRT 3 Corporation, he said.

Currently, there are only about 10 trains servicing MRT 3 daily.

But more often than not, a number of trains could encounter problems, causing the management to pull out the problematic coaches. Celerina Monte/DMS