By Hannah Torregoza Senator Grace Poe, chair of the Senate committee on public services, on Sunday urged the Department of Transportation (DOTr) to expedite actions aimed at providing a reliable and efficient maintenance provider for the Metro Rail Transit’s (MRT) upkeep. Senator Grace Poe (Jansen Romero / MANILA BULLETIN FILE PHOTO) Poe, in a Radio DZBB interview, said this is the most urgent task at hand for the DOTr, especially for Transportation Secretary Arthur Tugade, who has earlier assured the passengers of an improvement in the MRT-3 services by February. “Talagang urgent ‘yan. Pero siyempre kailangan din nila ng ulo. Kailangan nila ng isang magpapatron at magsasabi kung ano ang gagawin, ano ang kailangang i-order, at ano ang kailangang bantayan (That’s the most urgent. Of course, they need someone who will head. They need a leader who will say what to do, what to order and what they need to watch),” said Poe. “Matagal na kasi nilang sinasabi sa atin na by December of 2016 (magiging maayos na ang serbisyo). Ilang extension na yan na iba-ibang dahilan, (They have long promised us that their services will improve by December of 2016. The management already made lots of extensions with different reasons each),” the senator added. Poe reminded Tugade that the public is expecting better services by the end of the month. This even after secretary assured that brand-new spare parts for the MRT rail system has begun arriving. The senator pointed out the average number of MRT passengers has significantly dropped due to the continuous decline in the aging train system, even after the DOTr has ordered spare parts to improve MRT’s reliability as of December last year. The government took over the maintenance of the MRT after it canceled its contract with the train system’s previous maintenance contractor, Busan Universal Rail Inc. (BURI) which it accused of being remiss in its contractual obligations to procure sufficient spare parts for the trains. However, Poe said the government must consider other solutions to address the problems hounding the MRT if it fails to improve its services based on its target. At the same time, Poe urged the Office of the Ombudsman to expedite criminal cases against former Transportation Secretary Joseph Emilio Abaya for entering into troublesome contracts over the unusable MRT trains and the inefficient former maintenance provider. She said she was poised to draft another committee report to discuss, in detail, the accountability of Abaya and former Transportation officials on the MRT mess. “Ayaw natin ng paghihiganti. Ang gusto lang natin ay pananagutan (We do not want revenge. What we want is accountability),” she said, adding that lawmakers’ hands are “tied.” “Ang aking serbisyo lamang talaga ay unang-una ay mapanagot—sa pamamagitan ng rekomendasyon—ang mga nagkasala diyan (Foremost in my mind is to make sure one is held accountable—through recommendations—whoever is at fault),” she said. “Pangalawa, hindi sila tigilan sa kanilang responsibilidad na gampanan ang kanilang trabaho kung kalampagin man sila at magrekomenda ng kanilang pananagutan, (Second, its important to remind them of their responsibility and to recommend what they should account for),” Poe said.