Metro Manila (CNN Philippines) — Transportation Secretary Joseph Emilio Abaya on Monday (August 3) criticized Vice President Jejomar Binay’s version of the state of the nation, saying that the latter does not understand the root problem of the Metro Rail Transit Line 3 (MRT-3).
Abaya added that despite the vice president’s tirades, he offered no solution to MRT-3’s problems.
“Two things are clear from the vice president’s speech: First, he does not have any solutions at all to MRT-3’s problems; and second, he does not even understand the root of the problem, which is the onerous BLT (build-lease-transfer) contract.”
During his own State of the Nation Address (SONA), the vice president cited the MRT-3 as proof of the Aquino administration’s incompetence.
Related: Many Filipinos still poor, hungry, jobless – VP Binay
In a statement on Monday, Abaya, who is also the Liberal Party’s acting president, said that Binay’s view of the MRT-3 trains as “rolling coffins… speaks volumes of how he views its riders.”
“[O]ne who chooses to be blind to reality also loses the ability to hope for a better situation for the public — which may be why he has given up on finding solutions and calling MRT-3 trains ‘rolling coffins,'” Abaya said.
He then enumerated realities which, according to him, the vice president chose to be blind to. This included the purchase of 48 new train cars; the rehabilitation of escalators, elevators, and toilets; the procurement of over 7,000 new rail tracks, and the awarding of the contract to upgrade MRT-3’s signaling system, among others.
The administration’s jugular vein
The problems faced by the MRT-3 have been one of the major issues the vice president has been raising against the administration.
Binay made a similar statement last June, that time tagging the rail system as “train coffins” and calling it the “biggest evidence proving the Aquino administration’s failures and insensitivity to address the people’s needs.”
The Office of the Vice President also questioned Interior Secretary Manuel “Mar” Roxas II — Binay’s rival for the 2016 presidential elections — over the decision to change the MRT-3’s maintenance provider during the latter’s stint as the Department of Transportation and Communications’ (DOTC) chief.
“At hanggang ngayon hindi pa rin sinasagot ni Secretary Roxas kung bakit noong siya ang DOTC secretary ay nagdesisyon na palitan ang maintenance contractor ng MRT. Ang results nito ay kontratang tadtad ng iregularidad na sabit ang mga taga-LP at ang nadadanas na parusa ng mga commuters.”
Related: MRT chief blames contractor for train mess
According to Abaya, the DOTC “has fully cooperated, attended, and answered every investigation into alleged anomalies by the institutions established to fight corruption and to promote transparency in government.”
Abaya challenged the vice president to do the same by fully cooperating “with investigations into his alleged corruption before the Senate, the House, and the Office of the Ombudsman.”
