Solons grill DOTr over faulty new LRT-1 trains: Who should be held liable?

MANILA, Philippines — Two lawmakers asked the Transportation officials why they bought new trains for the Light Rail Transit Line 1 (LRT-1) extension project even before the railway is finished.

At the hearing of the House Committee on Transportation on Thursday, ACT Rep. France Castro told Transportation Undersecretary for railways Cesar Chavez that it’s like buying a new car, only to find lots of problems with it.

Antipolo 2nd District Rep. Romeo Acop also said the Department of Transportation (DOTr) doesn’t have a place to put the trains.

“Someone should be held accountable Mr. Chair, look at what is happening, we rehabilitate the train cars that we have not even used.  It’s like buying a car you haven’t used or one that is said to be brand new, but when it was delivered to you, there were many defects and we have to fix that ourselves,” Castro said in Filipino.

“That’s precisely the question why I asked them, why procurement comes first?  Because first, they do not have a depot to store the trains so that they would be protected.  That’s why, the weather or other environmental circumstances would have its effects on these trains because they are not protected,” Acop replied to Castro.

Earlier, Chavez said that 80 of the 120 new LRT-1 trains, which were bought for P12 billion in 2017, cannot be used because of water leaks. Castro thinks that a closer look at the railway deals of the DOTr might be required to make sure that no one took advantage of it.

“You are correct (Mr. Chair), we should take a deeper look at this system by the DOTr where they buy trains before finishing the system.  Maybe someone is benefitting from these?  Because procurement Mr. Chair, anything related to procurement, we know through past experience that somebody earned from that,” she noted.

1-Rider Rep. Bonifacio Bosita also asked Chavez who should be held liable for allegedly mismanaging the way public funds were spent.

“Who should be held liable here?  What particular office Mr. Chair?  Because this is disappointing, this is a lot of money.  But we know Mr. Chair, if you buy an item, regardless how much that costs — as my seatmate Honorable Congresswoman France Castro said — somebody might have earned from that,” he added.

Bosita, however, noted that the problems did not happen under Chavez’ watch.

“In fairness to Usec (of) DOTr Mr. Chair, parang hindi mo naman panahon ‘to eh [it seems this was not under your time],” he said.

Chavez said it often takes a while to get trains and build railway tracks, but it can take even longer when problems getting the right land for the railway occur. Chavez talked about the North-South Commuter Railway project, which is meant to be finished in 2026 but could take longer if they have trouble getting the land they need.

“The timeframe to be fair, is that new trains would arrive by 2027, or 2026 to 2027.  So in the original timeframe, before 2026, 2027, rails should have been in place already,” he said.

“Construction of civil works will take three to four years.  But you always have a variable Mr. Chair regarding right-of-way, sometimes from three years up to six years, sometimes past six years, the ROW has not yet been settled,” he added.

Chavez said the trains made by Mitsubishi Construcciones y Auxiliar de Ferrocarriles, S.A. (CAF), a Spanish-Japanese company, were delivered in 2021.

Chavez said they asked the train provider to fix the problem and do what they agreed when they bought the trains.

The trains were bought with money from a loan from JICA in 2017.

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JPV/abc