Ombudsman hit for clearing Abaya in P400-M LRTA deal

A commuters’ group criticized the Office of Ombudsman yesterday for not including Transportation and Communications Secretary Joseph Emilio Abaya among those charged in connection with the allegedly anomalous implementation of maintenance and janitorial contracts, worth P400 million, for the Light Rail Transit (LRT) Line 1. The filing of graft and corruption charges against former LRT Authority administrator Melquiades Robles and 12 others is only to divert attention from Abaya’s involvement in the LRTA anomalies, said Riles Laan sa Sambayanan (RILES) network spokesman Sammy Malunes. He believes Abaya is the mastermind behind the charges filed against Robles and 12 others. “Any charge of graft or corruption filed in relation to the LRT or Metro Rail Transit is not serious if they don’t include Abaya,” Malunes said. He said the charges against Robles came more than six years after he vacated his post as LRTA administrator, but Abaya is facing allegations of corruption “right now… He needs to start taking responsibility instead of hurling all the blame onto scapegoats.” Abaya did not respond when asked to comment on RILES’ statement. The case stemmed from a contract the LRTA entered into with a joint venture in January 2009 for the preventive and corrective maintenance of the trains, rails and depot facilities of LRT Line 1. The joint venture was supposed to deploy at least 793 workers and janitors. It was paid P400.6 million in 2009, documents showed. The ombudsman’s Field Investigation Office found that the joint venture fielded only 209 personnel and the disbursement vouchers for the series of monthly transactions were processed without payrolls. “Instead of pushing for the implementation of the awarded contract, the respondents agreed to the reduction of janitorial manpower,” Ombudsman Conchita Carpio-Morales said. The contract was repeatedly renewed until July 2013.