MANILA, Philippines — Graft charges will be filed by consumers group and the militant Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan) against incumbent officials of the Department of Transportation (DoTr) and private individuals allegedly responsible for the “crisis in the train system.”
Renato Reyes Jr., Bayan secretary general, said they would file the case before the Office of the Ombudsman on Monday, November 20.
“We are readying the case so that we can file it and make the officials and private individuals answerable for the crisis in the train system. There has to be accountability,” Reyes said in a radio interview.
“Marami pang kailangang halungkatin sa anomalous na na kontratang ito. Ang aming main theory ay ang maintenance contract na ito ay pinagkakitaan, may pinaboran, may kumita at milyon-milyon ang nagdusa,” he added.
[There’s still a lot to be unearthed from this anomalous contract. Our main theory is that this maintenance contract became a milking cow, it favored some entities, somebody reaped gains from the deal, and millions of Filipinos suffered because of this.]
On Thursday, a coach of the Metro Rail Transit 3 was detached from the two other coaches forcing passengers to alight and walk on the rails to the next station. The decoupling incident could perhaps be the most serious problem encountered by the aging and glitch-ridden mass transport system since it started operating in 1999 during the Estrada administration.
On Friday, Bayan Muna partylist Rep. Carlos Zarate called for an investigation into the alleged human error as well as claims of sabotage related to the missing MRT black box of a train that figured in the incident.
“This incident should be thoroughly investigated, especially the angle of sabotage or it was just the poor maintenance of the trains that caused the accident,” he said, adding that the recent incident had put into question the safety of the commuters.
“With the supposed loss of the black box, all CCTV in the depot and the tracks should be reviewed. We must also ascertain who would benefit if the MRT is sabotaged or put out of service,” the lawmaker said.
Zarate urged the House Committee on Transportation to look into the matter. He also said the Duterte administration should consider taking over the operations of the rail systems.
In 2015, graft charges were filed against then Department of Transportation and Communications Secretary Joseph Emilio Abaya and several officials, but the Ombudsman excluded Abaya from the case that it pursued at the Sandiganbayan.
In October 2017, the Department of Transportation also filed graft charges against Abaya, other ex-officials of the agency, and executives of Busan Universal Rail Inc., MRT-3’s the maintenance provider.
In its 29-page complaint filed before the Office of the Ombudsman, the DoTr, represented by Undersecretary for Legal Affairs and Procurement Reinier Paul Yebra, alleged that Abaya and other former department executives’ awarding of MRT-3’s P3.81-billion maintenance contract to a South Korean-Filipino joint venture led Busan Transportation Commission was “anomalous” because it formed BURI, another “special purpose” entity to implement the deal with the government.
It said the allegedly anomalous deal violated Republic Act 3019 or the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act.