The Sandiganbayan on Thursday sentenced a Metro Rail Transit general manager during the administration of President Benigno Aquino III to six to eight years in prison.
The anti-graft court found former MRT 3 general manager Al Vitangcol III guilty of graft for signing a P350-million contract with a company where one of the incorporators was an uncle of his wife.
Vitangcol was also perpetually disqualified from government service.
The Sandiganbayan declared the same penalties to Arturo Soriano, an incorporator of PH Trams and an uncle of Vitangcol’s wife.
During the duration of PH Tram’s service contract with MRT 3, the rail systems trains were not properly maintained while worn-out tracks were not replaced, the resulting in the fall of the number of trains running and decreasing the trains’ speed.
Thus, starting in the second half of the Aquino administration, kilometer-long queues of train commuters became the norm.
PH Trams was reportedly organized by Liberal Party leaders from Pangasinan, and it was given the MRT 3 contract after the Department of Transportation and Communication, then led by Secretary Joseph Emilio Aguinaldo Abaya, a former congressman from Cavite and a graduate of the United States Naval Academy. Abaya at the time was the president of the Liberal Party.
“In this case, accused Soriano is clearly in conspiracy with accused Vitangcol III. He knew from the start that his firm has dealings with the DOTC wherein his nephew-in-law, accused Vitangcol III, is a member of the BAC (bids and award committee) and team leader of the Negotiating Team, among others, said the 45-page decision dated Jan. 31 but was made available to reporters only on Feb. 6.
“Yet he did not divulge this relationship to the Board of Directors of PH Trams and to the BAC. His silence and non-disclosure of this fact paved the way for the eventual qualification of PH Trams during evaluation and negotiations.
In 2012, PH Trams and joint venture partner Comm Builders and Technology Philippines Corporation won the MRT 3 six-month interim maintenance contract after Sumitomo, the rail system’s maintenance provider since it started operations in the later 1990s, was booted out unceremoniously.
In his defense, Soriano claimed that he did not own shares of stock or have any other interest in PH Trams; but the court found in that in his Statement of Assets Liabilities and Net worth he had financial/business interest in PH Trams in December 2018.
The court, however, acquitted Vitangcol’s and Soriano’s co-accused Wilson de Vera, Marlo de la Cruz, Manolo Maralit and Federico Remo, who are executives of PH Trams.
