Vitangcol claims it is not his duty to disclose relation with MRT bidders

By: Marc Jayson Cayabyab - 10 years ago

Metro Rail Transit general manager Al Vitangcol III. CONTRIBUTED PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines—Relieved Metro Rail Transit (MRT-3) General Manager Al Vitangcol III said he was not duty-bound to find out if the bidders for the MRT are related to him or not.

Vitangcol made the statement after it was found out that a director in a winning bidder for an MRT project is the uncle of his wife.

“It’s not my duty to disclose. It’s the duty of the bidder to disclose,” he said at the sidelines of the hearing by the committee on good government and public accountability in the House of Representatives on Tuesday.

A newspaper column bared that one of the director-incorporator of winning bidder Phil Trams, Arturo Soriano, is Vitangcol’s uncle-in-law.

Vitangcol was relieved from his post by Transportation Secretary Joseph Abaya for failing to declare his relationship with Soriano.

The embattled official said he did not disclose his familial relationship with a bidder because Soriano was no longer part of the project at the time it was awarded.

Soriano divested his shares in Phil Trams after Vitangcol told him it was not proper to have a role in the project, Vitangcol said.

Asked to explain why he does not have the duty to ascertain if bidders are related to him, Vitangcol said: “Kung ikaw, lahat ba ng kamag-anak mo, alam mo ang ginagawa nila? (How about you? Do you know the activities of your relatives?)

“You cannot possibly monitor the activities of your relatives but they are the ones who know if they have an affinity to government. So it is their duty to disclose,” Vitangcol said in Filipino.

Vitangcol maintained that there was nothing anomalous in the contract awarded to Phil Trams, which was in a joint venture with CB&T, for the maintenance deal.

“It was done in the proper manner. It was above board, transparent. There was no hanky-panky here,” Vitangcol said of the almost half a billion peso project for MRT maintenance.

Vitangcol was also dragged in an alleged extortion try on Czech Ambassador Josef Rychtar, who claimed that Vitangcol’s envoy Wilson De Vera demanded $30 million from the Czech train supplier Inekon group for them to bag the contract for additional MRT coaches.

Vitangcol denied being involved in the extortion try. It was discovered that De Vera has left for the United States with his family.