The blame game is still on!
“Former Metro Rail Transit Line 3 general manager Al Vitangcol III recenly asked the Supreme Court to stop the Sandiganbayan antigraft court from proceeding with the corruption cases filed against him in connection with alleged anomalies in the railway’s maintenance contracts,” reports Jerome Aning in Philippine Daily Inquirer.
Vitangcol has submitted “a motion for reconsideration of the Supreme Court’s denial of the writ of certiorari he filed against the Ombudsman’s decision to indict him for corruption and violation of procurement laws.”
The report noted: “Vitangcol’s lawyer Atty. Inocencio Vivero Jr. submitted to the high court a 23-page affidavit where he blamed Liberal Party standard bearer Mar Roxas, his successor at the Department of Transportation and Communication (DOTC) Emilio A. Abaya, and two DOTC undersecretaries for the problems afflicting the MRT-3 line.”
Vitangcol has been consistent in his argument that he has been turned into some sort of “sacrificial lamb” for the case.
Vitangcol stated in the affidavit, “I am the only DOTC official charged by the Ombudsman despite the unmistakable knowledge, involvement, participation and instruction of my superiors in the DOTC headed by former Secretary Roxas, current Secretary Abaya, Undersecretary for Legal Affairs Jose Perpetuo M. Lotilla and Undersecretary Rene K. Limcaoco, who should have been the ones brought to justice for gross and inexcusable inaction, if not willful and deliberate manipulation, of the events and processes related to the maintenance of MRT-3.”
Vitangcol pointed out that Roxas’ and the other DOTC officials’ failure to “timely and properly act” on the repeated requests to look for a new service provider resulted in “questionable temporary agreements.”
But while all these important people field their lawyers in court, MRT riders continue to suffer.
