MRT-3 maintenance contractor sues DOTr officials, consultant for unpaid dues

Busan Universal Rail Inc. (BURI), the maintenance contractor of Metro Rail Transit Line 3 (MRT-3), sued Transportation Undersecretary Cesar Chavez before the Office of the Ombudsman for graft and administrative complaints.

The complaint also named Hernando Cabrera, senior technical assistant to the Department of Transportation (DOTr), and Jorgette Bellen, program head of Uici-Seoul Metro-Dong-IL-JF Cancio Joint Venture Program.

The joint venture was tapped by the DOTr to provide consultancy services for the MRT-3.

The company claimed that the Department of Transportation (DOTr) has not paid BURI its monthly dues now amounting to P176 million.

The sum includes totally withheld and partially unpaid dues, said lawyer Redentor Roque. The BURI counsel noted that the DOTr is supposed to pay the company P54 million a month as maintenance service provider of the mass rail transit system.

"Around P176 million, more or less. This would include billings that are totally unpaid, and this would include amounts that were partially withheld from previous billings," Roque told reporters in an interview before the case was filed.

Under the three-year contract BURI and the DOTr signed in 2016, there was no basis for not paying the company, said Charles Mercado, BURI corporate secretary, adding that Chavez had been issuing excuses that were tantamount to "whimsical delays" as to why the payments had not be processed. 

"Ang tagal ng nasa lamesa niya, palipat-lipat lang siya, 'di naman niya pinipirmahan. This has gone through the entire procedure already except for the preparation ng voucher, eh, siya 'yung pipirma ng voucher. Naku, kung minsan ang tagal na. inuupuan niya talaga, sinasadya," Mercado claimed.

Chavez told reporters in a separate statement that the decision to withhold payments was "precisely to protect public funds, hence, antithesis to graft. How can I be charged with graft when I was only protecting public funds?"

The DOTr pays the service provider once the documents required by the Commission on Audit have been finished, the DOTr official noted.

"Bakit kailangan masinop sa pagsusuri ng billing? Para matiyak na original ang spare parts, at hindi rin galing sa 'cannibalized' o kinuha lang na piyesa sa ibang bagon. Ito ay para sa kaligtasan ng mga [sumasakay]," Chavez said.

DOTr backs Chavez

In a separate statement, the DOTr backed Chavez's statement saying the non-payment of dues is in fact a form of sanction meted against BURI for its poor record of maintaining the MRT system and is well within its contract.

"THE DOTr has undertaken financial sanctions against BURI because of its poor record in providing maintenance and safety checks on MRT trains," the DOTr said in a letter addressed to Roque dated June 6, 2017.

"The decision to withhold portions of BURI's billings is in accordance with contractual provisions, as well as existing pertinent government accounting and auditing rules and regulations," it added.

The DOTr also cited the COA report which expressed concern over the "unperformed services and unprocured spare parts and consumables may have a negative impact on the services rendered" of BURI.

Furthermore, the DOTr scored BURI for filing charges against Chavez when it was the maintenance provider which undermined the MRT's riders.

The agency cited BURI's lapses in ensuring a better state for the MRT-3 such as more than 600 service interruptions, train derailments, failure to deploy 20 trains during peak hours, and failure to ensure the safety of its maintenance staff.

"Upon investigation, the DOTr discovered that these daily malfunctions were caused directly by poor or non-existent maintenance work. They cannot be blamed on design- or rail-related issues," the DOTr said.

"To date, BURI has already taken a significant chunk from the country's coffers despite its failure to do what it was contracted to do," it added. — VDS/KVD/KBK, GMA News