IT does not seem at all coincidental that the disclosure of the awarding of a three-year, P3.81-billion maintenance contract for the troubled Metro Rail Transit Line 3 (MRT-3) was made during the busy holiday season, because it was just another in a now seemingly-unending string of sleazy, underhanded moves that the Aquino Administration would likely prefer the public not notice, or think about too much.

Citing an “emergency,” Transportation Secretary Joseph Emilio Abaya explained that the contract for the badly-needed repair and maintenance of the MRT was awarded through a negotiated procurement because two previous attempts at conducting a proper bidding – in September of last year and January of this year – failed to attract qualified bidders. As if to reassure the public that the current deal, which involves a consortium of Korea’s Busan Transportation Corporation and several Filipino companies, is fair and aboveboard, Abaya pointed out it was approved by the NEDA, the Department of Justice, and the Government Procurement Policy Board – which only makes us wonder what choice they were given.

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