THE Senate will again summon previous Transportation officials in a legislative inquiry after Senator Grace Poe, head of the public services committee, decided to focus on “unusable” trains worth P3.8 billion that the government had ordered from a Chinese train maker.
Poe filed Senate Resolution 355 to look into the newly delivered twin-section light rail vehicles built by Dalian Locomotive and Rolling Stock Co.
But the trains intended for Metro Rail Transit 3 are said to be inoperative because those have an incompatible signaling system intended to keep safe distances between trains.
“The body of the train was made in China, the signaling system in South Korea and the engine from Germany, so one can say that it’s the biggest chop-chop coming from different countries,” Poe said.
“Let’s say it’s not unusual to have parts from different countries, but at least the delivery should have the complete package.
“But what we’ve seen during the last administration, the first round of delivery, it was such a hype. We had trains without engines so they could not run.”
Poe made her statement even as several cause-oriented groups on Friday filed graft charges against former Transportation secretary Joseph Emilio Abaya at the Office of the Ombudsman over the purchase of allegedly defective train coaches from China.
The Anti-Trapo Movement of the Philippines, Liga ng Eksplosibong Pagbabago and United Filipino Consumers and Commuters filed the complaint through lawyer Al Vitangcol III, former general manager of the MRT3 who was dismissed by former President Benigno Aquino III after engaging Abaya in a public quarrel over the MRT contracts.
The three groups accused Abaya and the other former Transportation officials of graft for entering into a P3.8-billion contract with Chinese supplier Dalian Locomotive & Rolling Stock Co. for the 48 light rail vehicles.
Poe said her panel will invite Abaya, ex-MRT 3 general manager Roman Buenafe and other officials involved in the purchase of the LRVs, as well as current Transport Secretary Arthur Tugade and Undersecretary for Rails Cesar Chavez.
She said questions remained as to why the previous administration failed to check the compatibility of the design of the trains despite the hype about MRT’s capacity expansion and claims that more commuters would be accommodated.
“There’s something that they [past Transport officials] didn’t do, that’s why these things aren’t compatible… The parts that they ordered aren’t even compatible with each other,” said Poe, referring to the 49,000-kg weight of the Dalian trains but the existing rails could only carry a maximum of 48,000 kilograms.
She said the Senate “should ensure a safe, decent and efficient public transportation systems; thus inept and corrupt government officials should not go unpunished for entering into anomalous and patently disadvantageous contracts in the public transportation sector.”
At the same time, Poe called for an inquiry into MRT’s maintenance contract with Busan Universal Rail Inc., a Filipino-Korean joint venture that started maintenance and restoration works in January 2016 on the aging MRT, which has been operating since 2000. With Maricel V. Cruz
