{"id":133037,"date":"2017-11-21T21:28:09","date_gmt":"2017-11-22T02:28:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=133037"},"modified":"2017-11-21T21:28:09","modified_gmt":"2017-11-22T02:28:09","slug":"mrt-3-to-undergo-total-revamp-palace","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2017\/11\/21\/mrt-3-to-undergo-total-revamp-palace\/","title":{"rendered":"MRT-3 to undergo \u2018total revamp\u2019: Palace"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"FILE:<\/a>
FILE: In a Palace briefing, Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque Jr. said the assurance was made by DOTr Secretary Arthur Tugade during their conversation immediately before the press conference.(Photo: MRT-3 Philippines\/Facebook)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

MANILA<\/strong> \u2014 Malaca\u00f1ang on Tuesday said the Department of Transportation (DOTr) had assured that the Metro Rail Transit Line 3 (MRT-3) would undergo a complete rehabilitation to improve its operations once and for all.<\/p>\n

In a Palace briefing, Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque Jr. said the assurance was made by DOTr Secretary Arthur Tugade during their conversation immediately before the press conference.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe (Tugade) assured me that they are going to procure a reliable maintenance contractor; they are building new rails; they are buying new train cars and new signaling system. They are, in other words, revamping almost completely the MRT,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd meanwhile, there is a safety audit being conducted to ensure the safety of the riding public,\u201d Roque added.<\/p>\n

The DOTr has taken over the maintenance operations of MRT-3 after terminating the contract the previous government had struck with maintenance provider Busan Universal Rail Inc. (BURI) after successive breakdowns of the train system.<\/p>\n

The department has also filed a plunder complaint against nine former cabinet members of the Aquino administration over the alleged anomalous maintenance contract with BURI.<\/p>\n

Roque said he asked Tugade on what concrete steps the DOTr is undertaking to improve the train system because seeking justice from those liable in the MRT-3 fiasco is not enough.<\/p>\n

He said that President Rodrigo Duterte\u2019s marching orders to his Cabinet is:\u00a0\u201cGawin niyo ang tama para sa taong bayan, at gawin niyo \u2018yan sa lalong mabilis na panahon.\u201d<\/em>\u00a0(Do what is right for the people. Do it as soon as possible.)<\/p>\n

\u201cBago ako nagpunta rito, talagang kinausap ko na muna si<\/em>\u00a0Secretary Tugade\u00a0dahil hindi naman tama nga na sasabihin ko nagdemanda lang tayo at humihingi tayo ng katarungan laban doon sa mga nagkamali,<\/em>\u00a0(Before coming here, I talked to Secretary Tugade. It really isn’t enough to file complaints and seek justice from those who erred),\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cHiningi ko rin kay<\/em>\u00a0Secretary Tugade\u00a0ano \u2018yung mga hakbang na ginagawa at gaya ng sinabi ko kanina eh talagang halos complete<\/em>\u00a0rehabilitation\u00a0na ng<\/em>\u00a0MRT\u00a0ang gagawin<\/em>\u00a0(I also asked Secretary Tugade on what steps are being taken regarding this matter. Just as I said earlier, an almost complete rehabilitation of the MRT needs to be done),\u201d Roque said.<\/p>\n

But Roque admitted that the government could not give a timeline on when the problems besetting the rapid transit system would be finally resolved.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s very difficult to set a deadline. I think Secretary Tugade knows that we\u2019re looking up to him for a solution. We\u2019re crying for a solution and we\u2019re crying for a quick solution and I\u2019m sure that Secretary Tugade and Usec. (Cesar) Chavez are really taking all the necessary steps,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

He added that the termination of the BURI contract is also \u201ca legal quicksand\u201d that may also cause a delay in the planned rehabilitation.<\/p>\n

BURI representatives have said that the company would seek arbitration of the case.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou see, the rule in Obligations and Contracts is although you can unilaterally rescind, you do so at the risk of being overruled by the courts,\u201d Roque said.\u00a0(PNA)<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

MANILA \u2014 Malaca\u00f1ang on Tuesday said the Department of Transportation (DOTr) had assured that the Metro Rail Transit Line 3 …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,95],"tags":[20286,34457,978,29148,34456],"class_list":["post-133037","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-news","category-news-ph","tag-department-of-transportation-dotr","tag-dotr-secretary-arthur-tugade","tag-malacanang","tag-metro-rail-transit-line-3-mrt-3","tag-presidential-spokesperson-harry-roque-jr","mauthors-jose-cielito-reganit","mauthors-philippine-news-agency"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/133037","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=133037"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/133037\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=133037"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=133037"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=133037"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}