Nine former Cabinet officials from the administration of
former President Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III are facing scrutiny after a plunder
case was filed against them.
The Department of Transportation (DoTr) charged the said officials
before the Office of the Ombudsman in relation to contract irregularity of
MRT-3.
DoTr Undersecretary for Legal Affairs and Procurement Ranier
Paul Yebra, with two lawyers Giovanni Lopez and Mark Steven Pastor filed the
case, on Tuesday.
Former Department of Transportation and Communications
(DOTC) Secretary Joseph Emilio Aguinaldo Abaya and former Department of Interior
and Local Government (DILG) Secretary Mar Roxas are among on the list in the
filed complaint.
Just recently, over the same maintenance deal that the government
entered with Busan Universal Rail Inc., (BURI) a case was also lodged against
Abaya.
The new 64-page complaint was for the contract with BURI for
the general overhaul of light rail vehicles and replacement of the signaling system
of MRT-3.
Among on the list are the following former Cabinet members;
former Budget Secretary Florencio (Butch)Abad;
former Finance Secretary Cesar Purisima;,
former Energy Secretary Jericho Petilla;,
former Science and Technology Secretary Mario
Montejo;
former Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin;,
former Public Works Secretary Rogelio Singson;
and
former National Economic Development Authority
(NEDA) chief Arsenio Balisacan.
The complaint also include the former MRT General Manager
Roman Buenafe and former Transportation Undersecretaries Rene Limcaoco,
Catherine Gonzales, and Edwin Lopez.
Yebra pointed out that Abaya and Roxas are the “main plunderers”
of the entire scheme.
“Using the MRT-3 project as a fund-raiser, respondent Roxas
and Abaya set into motion a grand scheme of turning the DOTC as a bottomless
cash cow, entering into one anomalous procurement project after the other,” the
64-page complaint read.
Yebra explained that it all happened during the time that MRT-3
trains and its parts underwent “rapid deterioration”.
Source: Manila Bulletin
0 Comments