Senate Investigation On MRT3 Have Positive Results? #ExpertWriter

For the longest time, MRT3 has been subjected to public hearing after the derailment last August 13, 2014. Senate was looking into the constant train breakdowns which caused the riding public to question the management of MRT3. Is it the DOTC, as what the majority of Filipinos believed to be at fault? Or, the MRTC who built up this project along with DOTC?

Really, if an ordinary Filipino doesn’t know the facts behind the MRT3-EDSA train project, it’s always Secretary of DOTC Jun Abaya will be haunted by these nightmares every day. The people behind MRTC didn’t have the courage to talk openly, while the DOTC was at the forefront of controversies.

From the onset of Vitangcol case up to this Senate probe, the future of MRT3 is like a roller coaster, or, a derailed roller coaster?

It’s not easy to manage the MRT3 train system, every manager knows that, but if the management doesn’t have the expertise to run the operations, then, it’s a disaster. If the DOTC and MRTC have divided notions of what the MRT3 management’s all about, then, more disasters may follow.

An Accession Undertaking and an Assignment and Assumption Agreement was executed which gave MRTC all rights and obligations to the Project agreements during the debt repayment period and establish MRTC as the Project borrowing entity.

The government on the other hand was among the entity to develop with MRTC by the BLT Agreement which governs their relationship in building the said MRT3 Project. As all the terms in those prior agreements were superseded by the provisions of the BLT Agreement.

Build-Lease-Transfer Agreement is a form of project financing, wherein a private entity receives a concession from the private or public sector to finance, design, construct, and operate a facility stated in the concession contract. This enables the project proponent to recover its investment, operating and maintenance expenses in the project.

So, this BLT Agreement is under the MRTC and DOTC to provide the riding public the total services needed to operate the train system at MRT3-EDSA. Why all of the sudden, breakdowns started to appear at all angles, wherein the DOTC or MRTC cannot give solutions to these problems?

Is it because in October 2012, the maintenance contract was awarded to PH Trams and CB&T? And, in September 2013, the contract was awarded to APT & Global Inc. by the DOTC and will expire on Sept. 5, 2014, and another bid will be held?

Maybe because the latest company that the DOTC was approved didn’t have the proper expertise to run the maintenance problems at MRT3, or, the train system’s old and needed changes?

Secretary Jun Abaya had the expertise to manage the MRT3? In addition, the MRTC had the knowledge of all the DOTC’s transactions?
More questions could be asked for these people who are managing the MRT3 in which, more and more Filipinos were affected by this roller coaster decision-making. Nevertheless, it’s the DOTC that suffered more than the MRTC, in the eyes of the public.

The Senate hearing could be the wakeup call for DOTC people to prioritize the welfare of the riding public than their revenues. It’s their duty to extend their time to study, learn, and apply the proper ways to manage the train system.

Hoping for Senator Grace Poe and other Senators to build bridges with DOTC head Jun Abaya in continuing the total services to be given to Filipinos; if the plan of the government to acquire the MRT3 management. At least, if the buyout will push through, the government will give much full attention to these problems of MRT3-EDSA.