Sen. Grace Poe urges DOTr to go after ex-officials responsible for MRT-LRT common station delay

MANILA –Sen. Grace Poe on Monday urged the Department of Transportation (DOTr) to go after former government officials responsible for the delays in the construction of the MRT-LRT common station.

Poe, chair of the Senate Committee on Public Services that led an inquiry into the common station, said former Transport officials, kept the common station from being completed.

She said that if former officials who were at fault should be charged.

“Let’s not forget that because of them, we were tied for eight years (from completing the common station). The government should not get into agreements and change the plan later on because investors will not come in. This should be a lesson learned,” Poe said during the hearing.

She asked the DOTr to furnish her committee a copy of the previous agreements on the common station. She wanted them reviewed to find out who was responsible for delays.

“In the past, whoever has approved the previous agreement with naming rights as well as those who whimsically reneged on the same, all without public consultations and due regard to public interest should be held accountable because of the undue delay that plagued this project,” Poe said.

She meanwhile expressed hope that the common station would serve the interest of the public and not the interest of the government and private corporations.

After eight years, a memorandum of agreement (MOA) was signed last Jan. 18, 2017 to finally start construction of the project on December 2017.

The common station, that will link LRT Line 1 and MRT Lines 3 and 7 and provide seamless transfer of passengers and interconnectivity between the railway lines, is expected to be completed by April 2019.