Vitangcol uncle says he quit firm before it bagged MRT deal
INQUIRER FILE PHOTO and photo from dotc-mrt3.weebly.com
DAGUPAN CITY—Pangasinan provincial accountant Arturo Soriano on Tuesday said he was no longer connected with PH Trams, the service contractor of the Metro Rail Transit (MRT) 3, which is under investigation for an allegedly anomalous P517-million contract.
MRT General Manager Al Vitangcol III was removed by Transportation Secretary Joseph Abaya for his supposed role in the anomalous transaction.
In a telephone interview on Tuesday, Soriano said he withdrew his share from the company when he learned that PH Trams would be dealing with a government agency after it won the service contract in October 2012.
“When we organized the corporation [in August 2012], our intention was to deal with private entities. But when I learned that we would be dealing with the MRT, I got out of the company,” Soriano said.
“I knew it was wrong for me because I work in the government and my niece is the wife of the MRT general manager at that time,” he said.
Soriano was appointed provincial accountant in 2011, after serving as administrative officer of the Pangasinan Provincial Hospital in San Carlos City.
His niece, Lady Maricar Bravo, is Vitangcol’s wife.
Soriano said he sold his share to another PH Trams incorporator, Marlo de la Cruz.
A businessman being linked to the transaction, Wilson de Vera, clarified on Tuesday that the service contract for the MRT 3 was not awarded to PH Trams alone but to the joint venture of PH Trams and CB&T (Comm Builders and Technology Corp.).
“The awarding of contract was above board. Besides, it was not the MRT that bid out the project but the DOTC [Department of Transportation and Communications],” said De Vera in a telephone interview from California, where he is based.
De Vera also said that in the joint-venture agreement with CB&T, his company, PH Trams, was just a part consolidator.
“The CB&T took charge of the technical aspect of line maintenance because it had the track record,” he said.
“The CB&T was the majority shareholder in the joint venture and I had nothing to do with the operations,” he said.
De Vera said before his company came in to do line maintenance, MRT 3 had spent $2.2 million a month for the job.
“But when we came in, the contract was just $1.15 million,” he said. “Why am I being singled out here? Obviously, they are trying to destroy me.”
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