THE Aquino Cabinet officials are simply being made accountable for their incompetence rather than being made “scapegoats” for the woes plaguing the Metro Rail Transit Line 3, Malacañang insisted Friday.
Responding to Vice President Leni Robredo’s criticism that the filing of the charges against the Aquino officials were meant to pass on the blame for MRT 3’s woes, Presidential Spokesman Harry Roque said the current administration had been dealing with the MRT 3 mess that he said started in the past administration.
“We find the Vice President’s remarks unfortunate. With all due respect to Vice President Robredo, the MRT-3 issue is not about covering up shortcomings. The administration has faced the MRT 3 mess squarely,” Roque said in a statement.
“We cannot simply sweep the sins of incompetence and corruption under the rug with the harsh reality of half-a-million daily suffering riding public staring us in the face.”
Roque said the officials facilitated the negotiated procurement of long-term maintenance contracts to Busan Universal Rail Inc. or BURI. He said the Supplemental Complaint Affidavit filed by the Department of Transportation said that BURI “turned the DoTC [Department of Transportation and Communications] to a bottomless cash cow entering into one anomalous procurement project.
“We cannot deny the fact that these are cumulative problems that the Administration inherited and the long-suffering commuters of Metro Manila have known for years how the past government destroyed the MRT.”
“The filing of the plunder complaint against the officials of the previous administration was to make them accountable.”
Roque said President Rodrigo Duterte himself had apologized over a recent train mishap.
“The President has even apologized over a recent train mishap and transport officials admitted that while they cannot solve the problems overnight, they are working double time to restore the convenience and reliability of the MRT 3 by getting a proven maintenance firm and buying needed parts.”
The Department of Transportation recently filed plunder raps before the Office of the Ombudsman against nine Aquino Cabinet members over the alleged anomalous contract for the maintenance of the Metro Rail Transit 3, including former Transportation secretary Joseph Emilio Abaya and Interior secretary Manuel Roxas II.