DOTr sues Roxas, Abaya for plunder over MRT 3 contracts

Manuel Roxas II (left) and Joseph Emilio Abaya

The Department of Transportation (DOTr) has accused Aquino administration officials led by former Transportation Secretaries Manuel Roxas II and Joseph Emilio Abaya of plunder in connection with contracts for Metro Rail Transit Line 3 (MRT-3), the elevated commuter train on Edsa that has suffered frequent breakdowns.

In a supplemental complaint filed on Tuesday in the Office of the Ombudsman, the DOTr accused 30 respondents of conspiring to rig the procurement of MRT-3 contracts in favor of Busan Universal Rail Inc. (Buri) and two maintenance providers linked to Marlo dela Cruz, whom Roxas’ opponents claim was his political operator and fundraiser.

Roxas was the candidate of the Liberal Party in the presidential election in May 2016.

The complaint was filed by Transportation Undersecretary Reinier Paul Yebra, acting Assistant Secretary Giovanni Lopez and lawyer Mark Steven Pastor.

The filing of the supplemental complaint came a month after the DOTr filed a graft case against Abaya and his subordinates over the creation of Buri as a special purpose company to implement the maintenance contract.

Aboveboard

Abaya, who had not yet received a copy of the complaint, defended the contracts as aboveboard. He said he would not shirk his duty to face official proceedings to inquire into his stewardship.

“I am confident that any inquiry will show that any and all projects and agreements entered into during not only my stint but during the Aquino administration were done with full, rigorous compliance with the law, with honesty, and in the public interest,” Abaya said in a text message.

Buri spokesperson Charles Mercado said the company “is confident that it will be able to address and negate any charges against the company and its officials.”

The DOTr recently terminated Buri’s maintenance contract.

While plunder is defined as an offense in which ill-gotten wealth is amassed, Lopez said “it is our view” that the involved government officials earned kickbacks from the irregularities.

‘Huge conspiracy’

He told reporters that the basis for the plunder complaint was the “huge conspiracy among the former officials and Buri members,” in which the erstwhile maintenance provider was paid P54 million a month without deductions “despite unperformed service and undelivered spare parts.”

The plunder and graft complaint said the respondents first “eased out” the previous maintenance provider, Sumitomo Corp., in 2012 in favor of the PH Trams-CB&T joint venture without the benefit of public bidding.

The DOTr described PH Trams, which was only two months old at the time, as “a dummy entity for the respondents belonging to the Liberal Party.”

The complaint questioned the involvement of Dela Cruz not only with PH Trams-CB&T but also with the succeeding maintenance provider, the Global-APT joint venture.

It noted that Dela Cruz’s name repeatedly popped up in Senate hearings on the MRT-3’s problems as being “connected with several maintenance providers that were awarded contracts during respondent Abaya’s time.”

PLUNDER COMPLAINT The Department of Transportation, through lawyers Mark Steven C. Pastor (left), Giovanni Z. Lopez and Reinier Paul R. Yebra, has filed a plunder complaint against former Transportation Secretaries Manuel Roxas II and Joseph Emilio Abaya, and 28 others, in the Office of the Ombudsman. —EDWIN BACASMAS

Saying that MRT-3 had only “minor glitches” when it was still maintained by Sumitomo, the DOTr claimed “MRT-3 started having breakdowns” under the PH Trams contract while Global-APT failed to procure spare parts and replace the rails.

Unqualified

“The involvement of respondent Marlo dela Cruz in this web of conspiracy is telling … Clearly respondent Abaya allowed the contract to be awarded to PH Trams-CB&T JV and merely turned a blind eye to all the facts showing that it was obviously unqualified to do the work,” the complaint read.

The DOTr also questioned the alleged irregularities in the award of a P3.77-billion contract for the purchase of 48 light rail vehicles that turned out to be unusable due to compatibility issues and lack of speed restraints.

As for the most recent maintenance contract, the DOTr said the negotiated procurement of the deal with Buri was “littered with irregularities that only highlight the criminal intent of the accused.”

It noted that the contract was originally limited to maintenance services and valued at around P2 billion, before the agency declared two failures of bidding.

Resorting to negotiated procurement with Buri, the approved budget of the contract then bloated to P4.25 billion, because of the inclusion of the procurement of the overhauling of the coaches and replacement of the signaling system.

The DOTr claimed the agency under Abaya hatched a “contrived emergency” so it could forgo public bidding and procure the additional maintenance needs through riders in the Buri contract.

Abad, Petilla, Montejo

Named as Roxas and Abaya’s corespondents were then Budget Secretary Florencio Abad, Finance Secretary Cesar Purisima, Energy Secretary Jericho Petilla, Science Secretary Mario Montejo, Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin, Pubic Works Secretary Rogelio Singson and Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Arsenio Balisacan (now Philippine Competition Commission chair).

The Cabinet officials were named respondents in their capacities as members of the Government Procurement Policy Board, which the DOTr said was involved in awarding the anomalous contract to Buri.

Also named respondents were Abaya’s subordinates: Undersecretaries Edwin Lopez, Rene Limcaoco and Catherine Jennifer Francis Gonzales, MRT-3 general manager Roman Buenafe, BAC chair Camille Alcaraz, BAC vice chair Ofelia Astrera, provisional members Charissa Eloisa Julia Opulencia, Oscar Bongon and Jose Rodante Sabayle, and member Maria Cecilia Natividad.

Besides Dela Cruz, other private respondents were Buri representatives Eldonn Ferdinand Uy, Elizabeth Velasco, Belinda Ong Tan, Brian Velasco, Chae-gue Shim, Antonio Borromeo, Jun-ho Hwang, Elpidio Silvestre Uy, William dela Cruz and Eugene Rapanut.

A day before the filing of the plunder case, leaders of Bagong Alyansang Makabayan and Bayan Muna filed a graft complaint against Abaya et al. over procurement irregularities in the Buri contract.

In a press briefing, Akbayan Rep. Tomasito Villarin of the opposition said the DOTr was trying to “deflect” from its “incompetence” in addressing the problems of the train system.