‘Get your act together’ – Escudero to MRT, DOTC execs

Sen. Francis ‘Chiz’ Escudero (Chiz Escudero’s Facebook page)

MANILA – Sen. Francis Escudero told Metro Rail Transit MRT Holdings II executives and Transportation officials to “get their act together,” during the resumption of the hearing on MRT train malfunctions.

“Everyone has a responsibility—I’m not using the word blame—why we are where we are right now. At the end of the day, I think the solution of MRT woes is for all of you guys to get your act together,” Sen. Francis Escudero said.

A shareholder in MRT Holdings II has recently passed the blame to the government’s failure in the renewal of the original maintenance contractor for the current MRT 3 problems.

Confused of the statements coming from the two agencies, Escudero asked both parties to “get their acts together” and discuss the issue, instead of filing cases.

Chair of Fil-Estate (a major equity holder in MRT Holdings II that owns MRT Corp.), Robert Sobrepeña, said during the hearing that the MRT problems are mainly because of the termination of Sumitomo Corp. as original maintenance contractor in 2012.

According to Sobrepeña, Sumitomo, was responsilble for designing, building and maintaining the MRT system under a principle called the “single point of responsibility.”

The said principle guarantees that 20 trains are “running at any given point in time.”

He added that the termination led to the loss of the “most important feature” of MRT 3: the single point of responsibility.

“The loss of the single point of responsibility has now led to the current state of finger pointing as to who is at fault for the sorry state of the MRT 3 system today,” he said at the hearing by the subcommittee on transport.