TRANSPORTATION Secretary Joseph Emilio Abaya told Senator Grace Poe on Monday to first read and understand the Ombudsman’s resolution on the controversial maintenance contracts for the Metro Rail Transit-3 before commenting on the matter.
Abaya made the remark as Malacañang scrambled to deny allegations that the Aquino administration is protecting him and current Interior Secretary Mar Roxas, who preceded Abaya at the DOTC, from prosecution over the deal that is now being blamed from the problems of the train system.
“[Poe] admitted that she had not read the resolution so it would be better if she first reads the full resolution why the Ombudsman’s decisions was like that,” Abaya said in a television interview.
“It would seem unseemly that she would believe one page and question the others,” added, referring to the Ombudsman’s resolution announced on July 3 ordering the filing of charges against some MRT officials, but not Abaya and Roxas.
In the resolution, Ombudsman Conchita Carpio-Morales found probable cause that former MRT manager Al Vitangcol III and five others for irregularities in the MRT-3’s interim maintenance contract.
At the same time, Malacanang also denied Poe’s claim that Abaya appears to be an “untouchable” because the Aquino administration is protecting him from prosecution.
“No one is untouchable,” said Communications Secretary Herminio Coloma Jr. “The filing of cases before the [Department of Justice] and the executive is based on evidence.”
Coloma said the Ombudsman, which cleared Abaya from charges, is a government body not influenced by the administration of President Benigno Aquino III.
“The Office of the Ombudsman is a separate and independent constitutional body,” Coloma added.
Presidential Spokesperson Edwin Lacierda even went a step further and described as fools those who even suggest that Malacañang can influence Carpio in her decisions as Ombudsman.
“[The opposition United Nationalist Alliance] must be a fool to even think one can dictate on Ombudsman Conchita Carpio Morales,” Lacierda said in a text message.
Lacierda made the remark in response to the charge of UNA secretary general JV Bautista that the Ombudsman is afraid to go after the “big fish” in the controversial deal because of their positions in the Liberal Party.
“The Ombudsman has technically disassociated Roxas and Abaya from the bribery, extortion, fraud and corruption connected to the MRT deals,” Bautista said.
“The Ombudsman does not have the courage to dig deeper into the multi-dimensional issues surrounding the MRT fiasco simply because it goes up from Abaya, Roxas to relatives of the President,” Bautista said.
Bautista said the Ombudsman erred in stopping at Vitangcol and failing to look into other anomalies such as the $30-million extortion, awarding of billion-peso contracts sans bidding, questionable fare subsidy reports, and the unused P4.5 billion MRT fund for expansion that was diverted to the Disbursement Acceleration Program.
“The daily ordeals every train passenger is experiencing are clearly the results of the PH Trams fiasco–but why only Vitangcol?” Bautista said.