MANILA: The Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) was urged yesterday to sue Metro Rail Transit Corp (MRTC), owner of the MRT line, to force it to comply with its obligations in improving and maintaining the facility.
In making the appeal, Representative Antonio Bravo of Cooperatives National Network Party said that DOTC officials promised two weeks ago in a Senate hearing that they would initiate legal action against the MRTC, but that they have not done so.
“Two weeks have passed since the Senate conducted its eye-opening hearing on the MRT, and we have yet to get updates on the DOTC’s plans to sue MRTC for breach of contract,” he said.
Senator Francis Escudero accused MRTC of violating its contractual obligations for the past 11 years with its failure to procure additional train coaches.
“How much longer do we need to study this before we actually file a case against them? Do you plan to sue MRTC? Why do you allow them to barrage the government with litigation left and right by way of TROs when, clearly, they did not deliver on their contract?” Escudero said.
Bravo recalled that in response, DOTC Undersecretary Jose Perpetuo Lotilla said the option to sue MRTC was under study and that the DOTC hoped “to go in that direction.”
THE PHILIPPINE STAR
