MRT DEAL

LINGAYEN—The provincial accountant who was implicated in the alleged anomalous transaction of the Metro Rail Transit (MRT) in connection with its maintenance contract with the PH Trams has been named as among those who will be investigated by the Ombudsman.

However, Arturo Soriano, whose niece is the wife of resigned MRT general manager Al Vitangcol III, said Friday that he welcomes the probe “to once and for all clear my name” in the questioned transaction.

Soriano, who was one of the incorporators of PH Trams, said he has nothing to hide and is ready with his evidence to show investigators to prove it.

He maintained he had divested his shares in PH Trams in 2012 when the company decided to enter into an agreement with the MRT which is a government agency and before his company made a bid and won the P517-million maintenance contract of MRT trains.

He said he joined the group when the original plan was to transact business with private corporations, like the MRTC, a private corporation, for the maintenance of the MRT and not with the government.

He said he was aware of the complications that would set in since he is an employee of the government and that his relationship with Vitangcol’s wife is his niece would also raise questions of conflicts of interests.

Soriano said when he learned that the bidding would be made with the Department of Transportation and Communication, he decided to divest his share and sold it to a certain Marlo dela Cruz.

He said he felts sad Thursday night when he saw his name in a TV report as among those whom the Ombudsman will indict for violation of RA 9184, the Government Procurement Reform Act. Vitangcol and DOTC Secretary Jun Abaya are the main respondents in the complaint.

“I hope this will be over soon but I like what the Ombudsman is doing so I am confident I can clear my name,” he said.

“I did not receive a single centavo from the MRT,” he added. (Tita Roces)

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