The former maintenance provider of the MRT-3 on Sunday denied any involvement in an alleged sabotage plot that caused the decoupling of train cars last week.
Hundreds of MRT passengers were forced to walk to the next station after 2 trains detached from each other on Thursday, about a week after the government terminated the maintenance contract of Busan Universal Rail Inc. (BURI) and took over the railway’s upkeep.
Cesar Chavez, Transportation undersecretary for railways, said Saturday that investigators have identified several persons of interest behind the incident, which could be an attempt to disrupt MRT operations.
He also revealed that the decoupled cars’ messma card, which functions like a black box that records all interventions to the trains, is missing.
“Hindi po kami siguro kasama sa sinasabi ni Usec. Chavez na persons of interest… Wala kaming responsibilidad o involvement sa mga nangyari. Alam niyo naman, sila na ang nagpapatakbo ngayon,” BURI spokesperson Atty. Charles Mercado told DZMM.
(We are likely not among the persons of interest that Usec. Chavez is referring to. We have no responsibility or involvement in the incident. The public knows that the government has taken over the maintenance of the MRT.)
Mercado also questioned how the messma card could have gone missing when all train parts undergo a daily 4-level inspection.
“They are distracting us from the real issue, ginagawa nilang mysterious na iyung black box missing,” he said.
“Paano mawawala ang black box e nasa tabi ng driver iyan? Kung mawawala ang card niyan, sinon’ng magtatanggal nun? Iyung driver o sino man after the inspection.”
(They are distracting us from the real issue and making it appear that the black box’s disappearance is mysterious. How could the block box go missing when it is beside the driver? If its card went missing, only the driver or someone else could have removed it after the inspection.)
He urged Chavez to focus instead on the supposed design flaws that caused the decoupling, including the flimsy links between MRT trams and their incapability to run at high speed.
The Department of Transportation has said it won’t stop MRT operations despite the recent mishaps.
The MRT, which runs the length of EDSA from Quezon City to Pasay City, ferries about half a million commuters daily.
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