PRESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte on Friday made two new appointments to the rails sector of the Department of Transportation.
Retired Army Gen. Rodolfo Garcia, a former Director for Operations of the Metro Rail Transit-3 during the time of Gen. Reynaldo Berroya, was named as general manager, replacing Roman Buenafe, who resigned from his post after more than a year of dealing with technical problems bugging the rail line.
Garcia is not the former vice chief of staff of the AFP, as was reported in other news reports, the Transportation department said.
Buenafe earlier admitted that MRT operations had never been normal since he was appointed in January 2015.
Meanwhile, former Light Rail Transit Authority Deputy Administrator and Manila Broadcasting Co. vice president Cesar Chavez was promoted to Undersecretary for Rails, replacing Noel Kintanar.
Chavez was first appointed as Assistant Secretary for Rails when Transportation Secretary Arthur Tugade took office.
Kintanar earlier resigned, citing his decision “to give Secretary Tugade a free hand in addressing any and all misconceptions or doubts as to the impartiality and independence of the DOTr in addressing the many issues and concerns on transportation.”