Vitangcol denies favoring uncle in P517-M contract

MANILA - Outgoing Metro Rail Transit General Manager Al Vitangcol III on Tuesday denied favoring his uncle-in-law in bagging a multimillion-peso maintenance contract for the MRT. Newspaper reports earlier revealed that Vitangcol, in his capacity as MRT general manager, awarded a P517 million maintenance contract to a joint venture between PH Trams and CB&T in October 2012. Vitangcol's uncle-in-law, Arturo Soriano, is one of six incorporators-directors of PH Trams. Vitangcol has said while PH Trams' contract is ongoing, his wife's uncle was no longer with the company when it won the bid in 2012. "When they participated, he was no longer in the company but his name would appear because he is one of the original incorporators in the SEC papers," he said. He also said he did not award the contract since the bidding went to the Department of Transportation and Communications. He said it was up to the bidders to reveal if they had any relationship with any government official. Philippine Star columnist Jarius Bondoc, however, criticized Vitangcol for not revealing his relationship with the PH Trams incorporator. He pointed out that there have been several breakdowns on MRT-3 operations since PH Trams and CB&T took over the maintenance. "Why is he questioning my motives? Why doesn't he just answer the points I raised? Not even the contract is the big issue here. The big issue is the maintenance of Line 3. There have been a series of breakdowns and in some of them, people have been injured and hospitalized," he said. He also questioned how Vitangcol's uncle-in-law could have left the company in October 2012 when it was founded in August 2012, or just two months before the company bagged the MRT contract. "Will somebody divest after two months?" he said. Vitangcol expressed confidence that he will be able to clear his name. He said he chose to resign to avoid dragging the DOTC into the controversy. Vitangcol has also been linked to an extortion case involving Czech train builder Inekon. Czech Ambassador to the Philippines Josef Rychtar had accused Vitangcol of demanding $30 million from Inekon in exchange for a contract to supply new train coaches for the MRT. Vitangcol has denied Rychtar's allegations.