DOTR Sues Mar Roxas, Other Noynoy Aquino Cabinet Officials for Plunder Over MRT 3 Deal Anomalies

The Department of Transportation (DOTr) on Tuesday, November 21 filed a plunder complaint against former DILG Secretary Mar Roxas, and other former Cabinet members in the Aquino administration. This is line with the alleged anomalies in the maintenance contract for the Metro Rail Transit 3 (MRT-3), wherein problems get worst as days go by.



The plunder case was filed before the Office of the Ombudsman by DOTr undersecretary for legal affairs and procurement Reinier Yebra. Early this month, DOTr Secretary Arthur Tugade signed an order to terminate the maintenance contract held by Busan Universal Rail, Inc. (BURI) for MRT 3, and to establish a temporary maintenance team for MRT 3.

Secretary Tugade blamed BURI for worsening glitches in the MRT-3, but the latter insisted that the problems were due to design flaws. The BURI MRT-3 maintenance deal was signed in January 2016, under the then the Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC), and in the absence of failed bid of interested parties.

“It cannot be overemphasized that what is at stake here is the welfare and interest of the riding public… This office cannot just sit back and wait while watching BURI trifle and flirt with the lives of the commuting public, with its substandard performance,” Tugade said at that time. Nevertheless, BURI legal counsel Maricris B. Pahate questioned its legality.

Aside from Roxas, other former Aquino officials who were charged include former DTOC Secretary Joseph Emilio Abaya, former DOTC undersecretaries Edwin Lopez, Rene Limcaoco, and Catherine Gonzales, as well as former BURI maintenance officials, former Bids and Awards Committee (BAC) officials, and a certain Marlo dela Cruz.

Also charged were former Budget and Management secretary Florencio Abad, former Finance secretary Cesar Purisima, former Defense secretary Voltaire Gazmin, former Public Works and Highways secretary Rogelio Singson, former NEDA chief Arsenio Balicasan, former Energy secretary Jericho Petilla, and former DOST chief Mario Montejo.



Last October 23, Yebra filed a graft complaint at the Ombudsman against Abaya and other former DOTC officials also over the MRT deal. Last Monday, November 20, Bagong Alyansang Makabayan Secretary General Renato Reyes Jr. and former Bayan Muna Rep. Neri Colmenares filed a graft complaint against Abaya and 14 others over the same issue.

Contributed by Salvi Dalida