Aquino-Rychtar-Abaya scheme

DIE HARD III / Herman Tiu Laurel / October 16, 2013 / Daily Tribune

Our commuting public, including this writer, owes Metro Rail Transit (MRT) general manager Al Vitangcol a debt of gratitude. Vitangcol did the study and recommendation that became the basis for the bids and awards committee (BAC) to set the optimum price of a little over $1.8-milion/coach.

Czech company Inekon, which triggered the allegations of $30-million "kickback" demands by certain Department of Transportation and Communications (DoTC) officials, proposed as far back as 2012 $3.3-million per coach. It is the Czech company that painstakingly networked with relations of the Aquino family, employing Steve Psinakis' nephew Yorgis Psinakis as agent, linking with Ballsy et al through presidential cousin Jorge Aquino-Lichauco and working the DoTC through Rene Limcaoco, brother of Cory Aquino gofer Dodi, among others we name in next columns.

The difference in price of what is now the lowest bid in the MRT3 supply of coaches contract at P1.8 million and below the recommended optimum bid price and the final offer of the Czech company of $3.05 million is between 47 coaches against 25 coaches. It is easy to imagine how much more room and comfort our daily MRT3 commuters including me, and my sons who commute to Makati and to La Salle Taft, will enjoy with 47 more coaches against 25 more.

It is clear now that Czech Ambassador Rychtar created the ruckus to sow confusion aiming to abort the best plans of dedicated DoTC officials like first-time government executive Vitangcol who is being made a villain and a fall guy instead of the ideal public servant that he has tried to be.

Al Vitangcol was recruited by former DoTC Secretary Mar Roxas from the private sector, but Liberal Party honchos higher than Mar Roxas (who could be higher?) had other plans for the DoTC. In came Liberal Party stalwart Joseph Emilio Abaya who's not been shy to tell friends that the DoTC is his stepping stone to the Senate in 2016 and then the presidency beyond 2020, hence he had also brought in cronies from the Philippine Science High School and entrenched vested interests with conflict-of-interest within the DoTC such as Manolo Maralit, Wilson de Vera, Marlo de la Cruz (this links to Korina Sanchez and Mar), Dan Palami and Allan Dilay (now GM of PNR) who are all connected with MRT3 maintenance contractors PH Trams and Global APT; and more on these people next issues.

Other than the P 1.8-million recommendation for the optimum price of new MRT3 coaches, Vitangcol radically improved operations: maintenance fee reduced from P1.4-billion per year to P700 million; Insurance cover from reduced from P200 million per year to P96 million; fare box collection increased from 3 to 4 million per day in 2010 to 6 to 7 million in 2012. Averaging the fare box collection to P6.6-million per day, times 365 days a year the total revenues would be P2.34-billion per annum. Take that and less maintenance and insurance cost the MRT3 would still be left with P 1.58 billion. How can the MRT3 be losing money? The truth is, the MRT3 is profiting handsomely and all is paid to the Equity Rental Payments.

MRT3 general manager Vitangcol has been "requested" by the DoTC secretary to go on "indefinite leave" from his post. While Vitangcol had willingly acceded to one or two previous requests to go on leave to clear the air and pending investigations, we are told by our sources that this time Vitangcol has directed the DoTC request to a lawyer. Apparently, this last request for Vitangcol to go on leave is to ease him out permanently, but that's not going to happen without the DoTC mafia of Abaya being the ones to get the ax from the public. We have been shown the paper trail of the Czech company Inekon, the formal communications and instructions from Psinakis, Limcaoco, through Lichauco, to DoTC officials and the trail leads back to the Aquinos, Inekon, Abaya and cabal.

The DoTC and Inekon are now obfuscating the issue using the Yellow controlled or influenced mainstream media newspapers and broadcasters have either never aired the information they have presented or the interviews they have given, and the two major newspapers have even twisted the information they have provided to implicate the "whistleblower" instead. The Tribune, some Internet bloggers and independent columnists have been the sources' reliable avenues to bring the truth about the DoTC-MRT3 scandal to light. At this point this writer believes the DoTC, Inekon and the Malacañang relations' objective is to create confusion, try to bury Vitangcol into obscurity and attempt to disqualify the winning bidder with the $1.8 billion/coach price to supplant this with Inekon's $3.0 million/coach.

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