DOTr sues Roxas, Abaya for plunder over MRT 3 contracts ~SHARE
In a strongly worded statement, Poe said: “BURI was even brazen enough to sue the DOTr when it was the one defrauding the government,”.
Just recently, Undersecretary for rail Cesar Chavez bared that BURI even bought the vehicle logic unit (VLU) from a shop in Bangkal, Makati City identified as Diamond Pearl Development and Marketing Corp. VLU is a highly specialized equipment that functions as the train’s automatic protection system.
As of now, the Filipino taxpayer is continuously paying PhP54 million per month, on top of a PhP1.8 billion fixed fee for other services, to an unworthy contractor incapable of delivering the reliable system.
In a statement to the press, DOTr said "We must stress that the great suffering of the riding public as result of the failure to deliver on the responsibilities of public offices, such as in the case of the current state of the MRT-3 system, carries consequences and that those accountable will be held liable."
Fortunately, the government has finally filed a long overdue complaint against those behind the MRT-3 maintenance service contract. The good news is that it is not an ordinary complaint, it is a plunder complaint.
Plunder is a non-bailable offense and is punishable by reclusion perpetua (life sentence) to death.
Sec. 12. Section 2 of Republic Act No. 7080 (An Act Defining and Penalizing the Crime of Plunder) is hereby amended to read as follows: “Sec. 2. Definition of the Crime of Plunder; Penalties. – Any public officer who, by himself or in connivance with members of his family, relatives by affinity or consanguinity, business associates, subordinates or other persons, amasses, accumulates or acquires ill-gotten wealth through a combination or series of overt criminal acts as described in Section 1 (d) hereof in the aggregate amount or total value of at least Fifty million pesos (P50,000,000.00) shall be guilty of the crime of plunder and shall be punished by reclusion perpetua to death.
On November 21, 2018, the Department of Transportation (DOTr) filed a plunder complaint against officials involved in the alleged anomalous MRT-3 maintenance service contract at the Office of the Ombudsman.
Named respondents included former Transportation Secretary Joseph Emilio Aguinaldo Abaya, former Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) Secretary Mar Roxas, former transportation Undersecretaries Erwin Lopez, Rene Limcaoco, and Catherine Gonzales; former MRT-3 general manager Roman Buenafe, former DOTC Bids and Awards Committee members and executives of Busan Universal Railways Inc. (BURI).
Also included in the charges are former secretaries Florencio Abad (DBM), Cesar Purisima (DOF), Jericho Petilla (DOE), Mario Montejo (DOST), Voltaire Gazmin (DND), Rogelio Singson (DPWH), Arsenio Balisacan (NEDA), and Mr. Marlo dela Cruz.
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