YEARENDER – DOTC undergoes de-militarization of offices

MANILA, Philippines – President Aquino’s triumph in the May 2010 presidential elections ended almost eight years at the helm of the Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) by retired police chief Leandro Mendoza and marked the entry of corporate executive Jose de Jesus.

Mendoza’s exit also meant the end of the line for his coterie of retired police generals – fellow alumni at the Philippine Military Academy – whom he had named to top positions in the DOTC and its line agencies such as the Land Transportation Office (LTO), the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB), the Metro Rail Transit Corp. (MRT), and several others.

In a move welcomed by many, Aquino appointed De Jesus, whose standing in the world of business and government due to his unblemished public service record was seen as a boost to shore up the image of the DOTC that took a beating during the previous administration, largely due to the scrapped national broadband network (NBN) project with Chinese telecommunications firm ZTE Corp.

De Jesus was credited for cleaning up the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) when he was appointed secretary by the incumbent President’s late mother, former President Cory Aquino, from January 1990 to February 1993.

He was as president and chief operating officer of the Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) when Aquino announced his appointment to the DOTC last June.

Before becoming Meralco president, De Jesus headed the Manila North Tollways Corp., which operates the North Luzon Expressway, from January 2000-December 2008. He also served as executive vice president of PLDT from 1993 to 1999.

De Jesus vowed to institute transparency at the DOTC and ensure that the department and its line agencies would present a level playing field in all public biddings.

In line with his agenda of cleaning up the DOTC, De Jesus quietly spearheaded the effort to look into all the contracts forged during the previous administration, including those signed during the last few months of the past administration.

In his first press conference last month, De Jesus said that the time-consuming effort to review the dubious and questionable contracts and ongoing projects has taken up much of his time and also that of his undersecretaries.

De Jesus revealed that there were 130 contracts reviewed, 111 of which were cleared for implementation and the remaining 19 suspended and likely to be scrapped.

Interestingly, it surfaced that of the 19 contracts that were not given the green light, 18 were contracts related to efforts of the Manila International Airport Authority (MIAA) to prepare the controversial Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) Terminal 3 for full commercial operations.

NAIA 3 is currently being partially used by local budget carriers Cebu Pacific, PAL Express, and AirPhil Express.

De Jesus said the 18 contracts related to NAIA 3 were all for airport management systems. However, he said that while it is supposed to be integrated, the MIAA had divided the various components of the systems into separate contracts.

“There are 18 of them. We’re still holding them as of now,” De Jesus said, adding that these might be “altogether scrapped” due to irregularities found.

De Jesus and his undersecretaries declined to identify the contract that remained pending and not related to NAIA 3, even refusing to say if it was a contract of the DOTC or its line agencies.

Resolving LTO woes

De Jesus also blocked a move by controversial LTO chief Virginia Torres to hold a bidding for the P500-million supply contract for 2011 driver’s licenses that included a controversial provision to revert to paper-based licenses from the current plastic cards.

He ordered Torres to defer the bidding set last September in response to complaints by interested bidders that the terms of reference of the bidding being readied by the LTO chief and her subordinates seemed to favor a certain bidder.

To address the concern, De Jesus created a special bids and awards committee (SBAC) last October that took over from the LTO the bidding for the contract and also removed specifications for paper-based licenses, allowing bidders to propose paper-based or plastic cards.

Public bidding for the contract is set for the middle of this month.

Fixing public transport

Aside from the house-cleaning efforts, the agency also took time to undertake preparatory work on the priority transportation infrastructure projects being pursued by the Aquino administration.

As earlier announced, De Jesus said that on top of their priority projects are the Light Rail Transit (LRT) Line 1 south extension project that will extend its current south end station in Baclaran, Parañaque City to Bacoor, Cavite, and the LRT Line 2 east extension project, which will extend from its current east end station in Santolan, Pasig City, to Masinag in Antipolo City.

De Jesus said the two projects will be pursued under the public-private partnership (PPP) mode laid out by Malacañang.

Stressing that the projects are meant to improve mass transport in Metro Manila and the provinces, De Jesus said the PPP projects will focus on the Aquino administration’s socioeconomic agenda to achieve high and sustained economic growth.

“This newfound trust in our institutions, along with the administration’s efforts to empower the private sector, has made partnering with government a very enticing prospect,” he said.

Aside from the LRT Line 1 south extension and the LRT Line 2 east extension, other projects being prepared by the DOTC for PPP proposals are the rehabilitation of the entire stretch of the Philippine National Railways south line from Alabang to Legaspi City, Albay, which includes the privatization of the operations and maintenance contract of the rail line.

De Jesus said they are also preparing the Puerto Princesa airport project in Palawan, the Laguindingan Airport in Cagayan de Oro, and the Bohol airport development project for PPP agreements. –Rainier Allan Ronda (The Philippine Star)