The “mystery man” identified as Marlo dela Cruz, who was tagged as the mastermind behind a string of controversies hounding the Metro Rail Transit 3, is also the supplier of MRT 3 maintenance service provider Busan Universal Rail Inc. of fake safety equipment for its signaling system, a party-list lawmaker said on Tuesday.
Puwersa ng Bayaning Atleta party-list Rep. Jericho Nograles said it turned out that Dela Cruz, who is one of former Interior and Local Government Secretary Manuel Roxas’ long-time political organizers and one of the three individuals accused by Czech Ambassador Josef Rychtar of extorting $30-million from Czech train maker Inekon, is also the owner of Diamond Pearl Development Corp., a dubious construction supply firm which also supplies BURI of its spare parts for MRT 3.
Nograles said he found it alarming that apart from an obvious case of conflict of interest, the spare parts that are being supplied by his company and are being installed on the MRT 3’s signaling system are fake spare parts.
“This is very, very dangerous. Using fake spare parts for a very critical component such as safety equipment for signaling system is a criminal act. Our people’s lives and limbs are in danger each time they take the MRT 3 because the train system uses fake safety components,” Nograles said.
This maintenance service contract of MRT3 is becoming messier and messier. Now we have discovered that we don’t only have a fake contract but our MRT 3 also have fake spare parts!” he said.
Nograles said that he has already filed House Resolution1212 which seeks to investigate why BURI is using fake safety equipment for MRT 3 instead of the original proprietary parts supplied by Bombardier Transportation Signal Ltd., the maker of MRT 3 safety components for its signaling system.
“We have already previously exposed how BURI fails to purchase needed spare parts but what is more appalling is the evident disregard of passenger safety. BURI has been purchasing fake replacement parts for the safety equipment specifically the signaling system,” Nograles revealed.
