THE continued presence of Transportation and Communications Secretary Joseph Emilio Abaya in the Cabinet is living proof that President Aquino’s straight path policy is a sham, and lays bare the lie that this administration rewards honesty and competence.
Despite the widening scandal over an extortion racket at the airport, his utter failure to arrest the deterioration of the city’s trains, and patently anomalous dealings within his own department, Secretary Abaya continues to enjoy the President’s confidence.
Confronted by the growing number of incidents with which bullets are found in the luggage of travelers as part of a scheme to extort money from them, the President’s sage decision was, in effect, to have Abaya investigate himself.
To nobody’s surprise, Abaya quickly declared that there was no evidence of a bullet-planting syndicate at the airport, even before his “investigation” began.
In his four years as Transportation chief, Abaya has failed to address the almost daily breakdowns in the city’s train services—and even signed off on an anomalous maintenance agreement with an unqualified service provider. The belated arrival of a prototype train carriage from China—and the promise of more trains to be delivered next year—will provide no relief to the long-suffering commuters who must take the MRT and LRT. Delivered without an engine, the prototype won’t be ready for testing until December.
The awarding of the contract to a Chinese company comes after MRT officials were accused of attempting to extort money from a Czech company to upgrade and supply equipment for the train system. While the former MRT manager has been charged, Abaya has escaped unscathed, untouched by the principle of command responsibility.
Amid mounting calls for Abaya’s resignation, a lawmaker mounted a spirited defense of the incompetent secretary.
Isabela Rep. Rodolfo Albano III said his ouster “was not a solution but an emotional, populist knee-jerk response that is counter-productive at this time.”
The President, Albano said, had already ordered Abaya to conduct an immediate investigation and has asked him to come up with strategic measures to stop the bullet planting scam.
Congressman Albano did not say how Abaya could investigate something that he has already said does not exist.
“It is counter-productive and foolish to remove Secretary Abaya from office,” Albano continued unctuously. “He is right now on top of major multi-billion-peso infrastructure projects, like the new skyways to link the North and South Expressways to decongest Metro Manila traffic,” he said, rattling off a long list of projects that have yet to be implemented.
“With about eight months before the Aquino government steps down next year, it is foolish and totally unproductive to seek the ouster or resignation of Secretary Abaya just to pander to the misguided [demands] of a few, especially politicians running for public office who are exploiting the issue for their own selfish ends,” Albano said.
“Secretary Abaya has categorically declared that the DoTC and national police and security agencies at the airports are committed to ferret out all criminal elements preying on hapless victims at the airport and would prosecute to the full extent of the law all violators,” the congressman added—as if this declaration were enough of a guarantee of action from a secretary who has proved his incompetence time and again.
To the congressman, we suggest that it is precisely because we have such a dubious character on top of billions of pesos worth of government projects that Abaya must be replaced—to safeguard our hard-earned tax pesos. Responding to public opinion is not always pandering; sometimes, it is just good government.