By Meanne Corvera
Eagle News Service
I am sure we will be vindicated.
Former Transportation Secretary Joseph Emilio Abaya had this to say after the filing of plunder charges against him and several others over the allegedly anomalous P3.8-B maintenance contract for the Metro Rail Transit 3.
Apart from Abaya, charged by the Department of Transportation were former Transportation Secretary Mar Roxas, former Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin, former Public Works Secretary Rogelio Singson, former Budget Secretary Butch Abad, former Finance Secretary Cesar Purisima, former Energy Secretary Jericho Petilla, former Science and Technology Secretary Mario Montejo, and former National Economic Development Authority chief Arsenio Balisacan, among others.
In a text message, Abaya said he was “confident that any inquiry will show that any and all projects and agreements entered into during not only my stint but during the Aquino administration were done with full, rigorous compliance with the law, with honesty, and in the public interest,” after all.
“I am sure we will be vindicated by the record,” he said.
Who is accountable?
Minority Senator Franklin Drilon of the Liberal Party said he was “confident” Abaya and the other accused “can respond to the charges” filed against them.
He noted that he “(doesn’t) even think that there is an allegation that (the) respondents profited personally,” as claimed by the DoTR.
“Plunder requires or one of the elements of the crime is that you personally profited to the extent of P50 million,” Drilon said.
He slammed the government for what he said was its penchant to “look for scapegoats” in the MRT mess.
He said it should instead “start looking for solutions” to the public transportation, which “is still in such a state that it does not serve the purpose for which it was formed.”
But Senator Grace Poe, chair of the Senate committee on public services, said it was about time that someone be held accountable for what happened to the MRT.
“So ang pag-file ng kaso ay isa lang iyon. Ang pinakamabigat na trabaho ngayon ng DOTr ay masigurong ligtas ang mga tren at maidagdag na ang mga kulang na train na matagal nang ipinangako,” she said.