SPEAKER Pantaleon Alvarez on Wednesday sought the ouster of three undersecretaries of Transportation Secretary Arthur Tugade for allegedly sleeping on the job.
He also slammed the Transport Department for delaying the bidding of priority projects so that those could be included in negotiated contracts that need not be open to scrutiny.
Alvarez, in a radio interview, expressed dismay over what he called the dismal performance of Transportation officials.
He also accused them of having vested interests as they had previously served in companies that had direct stakes in infrastructure projects for the transportation sector.
“With all these people at the [Transport Department], these undersecretaries who have their own vested interests, I am sure they will negotiate these contracts,” Alvarez said.
Asked to name the Transportation officials who should be fired by the President immediately, Alvarez identified them as Undersecretary for Railways Noel Kintanar, Undersecretary for Air Operations Bobby Lim, and Undersecretary for Legal Affairs Raoul Creencia.
Kintanar was a former assistant vice president of Ayala Corp. and was instrumental in Ayala’s acquisition of rail projects under the previous administration. Lim was the former country manager of the International Air Transport Association.
Alvarez said Tugade was to blame ultimately for the inaction of his people.
“At the end of the day, he is still accountable for the inefficiencies of these people whom he appointed as undersecretaries,” Alvarez said.
He said the Transportation Department was “dribbling” the projects that could have been implemented immediately without the proposed emergency powers being sought by Tugade to solve the traffic gridlock in Metro Manila and elsewhere.
Alvarez said the Transportation Department could not blame Congress for the delay in the passage of the emergency powers package being sought by Tugade because he and his team failed to provide concrete solutions and a specific list of projects.
“We cannot just grant them emergency powers if we are not sure where they will use those,” Alvarez said.