Senator JV Ejercito expects no more delays in the construction and completion of the MRT-7 project, a railway project that will connect Quezon City to Bulacan by 2019.
Ejercito made the statement during the Progress Briefing and Inspection of Build, Build, Build program held Thursday morning at the Quezon Memorial Circle.
“One of the culprits as to why we are in this transportation crisis is due to the low infrastructure spending in recent years. In the past, we only spent 2 percent of the GDP for infrastructure,” he said.
But now as announced by DBM Secretary Benjamin Diokno, Ejercito said the government will be spending 5 percent for the current year. In the coming years, the government will spend 6 to 7 percent.
“This is a very good sign for big ticket projects ahead, and that is why I am very expectant that there will be no longer any delays for the MRT-7 project,” said Ejercito, who is the Senate Committee vice chairman for Public Services and Public Works.
Ejercito also expressed his full support for the MRT-7 project.
“You have my 100 percent support for the completion of the MRT-7. After a very long delay, I am very glad that we are finally pursuing this project that will improve our transportation situation in Metro Manila. I have always emphasized that railway is the only way.”
With at least 20,000 to 30,000 new cars added on the road every month, he expects things will get worse before it gets better.
“I only ask for understanding from the public with the inconvenience this project will bring.,” he said.
He said the more important thing is that the government has started to build the railways. He commended Trasnportation officials, especially Secretary Art Tugade, for pushing for this project.
Ejercito said he is still hoping to pass the Transportation Crisis Act of 2016, a measure he filed which seeks to grant emergency powers to President Duterte that will ensure fast-tracked construction and completion of big- ticket items in the coming years.
“We want projects such as MRT-7 not only to reduce the traffic congestion, but also to improve the quality of life here in Metro Manila. I think this is the battle cry for Metro Manila.”
Service, committed suicide on Nov. 9, 2016. He left three letters indicating he was under extreme duress from Salazar to endorse the rigged infomercial project contract with Morelos’ FatFree.
Villa, 54, shot himself in the head with his .38-cal. revolver inside his house in Parañaque City. He was the son of the late Ombudsman Francisco Villa Sr.
“My greatest fear in bids and awards committee is the AVP [audio-visual presentation] by Luis Morelos, which the chairman and CEO, Jose Vicente B. Salazar, chose through a rigged selection system. That will be a criminal act,” Villa wrote in one of his suicide notes that were later made public by his sister, veteran journalist Rosario Sofia “Charie” Villa.
Besides the infomercial project, Pimentel’s panel also uncovered two other irregularities in Salazar’s office that involved the performance of crooked contracts in violation of the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act and the Government Procurement Act.
The panel ascertained that Salazar, an appointee of then President Benigno Aquino III, also ordered the renovation of the ERC chairman’s conference room and obtained new pest control services for the commission, both without a competitive public bidding.