Questionable DoTC deals; underlings staying in gov’t?

We write in the interest of truth and because the Filipino public is entitled to know the facts. The Department of Transportation and Communications, under Secretary Jose “Ping” de Jesus, has been touted as a showcase of good governance and transparency. Allow us to cite some questionable decisions that the secretary and his underlings made at the DoTC like the Radar Control System, MRT privatization, and the highly disadvantageous contract between the LTO and Stradcom.

The P 7.3-billion radar project was awarded to the Sumitomo-Thales consortium during the Arroyo administration and perfected during De Jesus’ watch. The first phase costs P4.8 billion, the second, P2.5 billion. The award to Sumitomo-Thales was illegal, according to the Commission on Audit (COA). It was noted that the same Japanese-Australian consortium did business with the government several years ago as “CSF Thompson,” but it eventually abandoned the “Global Maritime Distress Signal System (GMDSS)” project. This bidder should have been disqualified. In fact, COA was highly critical of the DoTC in a memorandum sent to the agency’s officials for “not disqualifying spurious bidders.”

Despite the COA findings, and the golden opportunity to do what is right, De Jesus authorized the release of P58 million to the consortium representing 15 percent of the project cost, as mobilization fee. This was subsequently disallowed by the COA in its entirety.

Another issue that casts doubts on De Jesus’ performance is the privatization of the operation and maintenance of the MRT. President Aquino wanted a public-private partnership (PPP) arrangement, where the winning bidder is paid out of the earnings of the MRT and therefore incentivized for good maintenance and penalized for downtimes. Reportedly, P-Noy preferred an arrangement that was straightforward, very transparent, no-nonsense and with no out-of-pocket expense for government. He wanted the winning bidder to take over the operations and maintenance of the MRT at no cost to the government in exchange for an extension of the 25-year contract, depending on the amount of investments the private operator would put in the project. In sharp contrast, De Jesus wanted to pay the winning bidder P15 billion over three years. Instead of a PPP arrangement, De Jesus favored a “Service Contract.”

Three of De Jesus’ underlings – Dante Velasco, Glicerio Sicat, and Ruben Reinoso – called a press conference recently to announce that they too were resigning to “give the incoming secretary a free hand.” At the same time, they accused the President of extending passive support for the DoTC’s programs. Reinoso also announced he was going back to his old job at Neda and Velasco to the Office of the Executive Secretary.

After putting the President in a bad light, they now want to go back to their “old jobs” in the P-Noy presidency. To top it all, they are letting P-Noy take the blame for their incompetence and mischief. What callousness.

—DANTE VINO, [email protected]