Binay spokesperson to Abaya: Explain, apologize, resign

MANILA, Philippines – Vice President Jejomar Binay’s spokesperson for political affairs Rico Quicho urged Transportation Secretary Joseph Emilio “Jun” Abaya to resign on Sunday, August 9, stating that he is “blinded by pride” and “incapable” of understanding commuters’ issues.

“As you have already hinted that we provide a solution to the issue, the best advice we can give is for you to resign, Secretary Abaya, and leave the problem to competent people who are better-suited to the job,” he said. “Consider this your contribution to the Filipino people’s salvation from an apathetic and inefficient government.”

This comes after Abaya – who Quicho calls as the poster boy for the “incompetent and insensitive government” – offered to hire 4 different companies on renewable contracts to do maintanance work as latest solution to problems plaguing the Metro Railway Transit (MRT) system.

According to Quicho, this is obviously not a viable solution and a failure.

“It is clear that your performance, including your predecessor’s, Secretary Mar Roxas, prove that no amount of excessive foreign schooling can guarantee competence in public service,” he said.

‘Correct action’

The best way to solve the MRT problems, according to Quicho, is to award the maintenance contract back to Sumitomo and Mitsubishi “who have proven their ability to do the job” instead of waiting for something worse to happen.

In what he called as the “true State of the Nation Address” last August 3, Binay stressed that the reason behind the MRT-3 mess is the cancellation of “successful, working” contracts which led to “unknown, untested” newcomer PH Trams.

According to Binay, the heads of PH Trams have ties with the ruling Liberal Party (LP).

“[You] don’t need [to] search for the cheapest company or one owned by partymates from the Liberal Party, just choose the proven and competent company,” he said. “And do it fast.”

In addition, Quicho added that specialized technicians or experts must be hired and trained immediately while substantial stocks of spare parts should be purchased and stored for emergencies.

‘Explain and apologize’

Instead of bashing the Vice President’s speech and hinting that he should provide solutions to the problems, Quicho advised Abaya to just “explain and apologize” to MRT commuters.

“Ito ang realidad: Dalawang taon nang nakaupo, may bilyong pisong budyet, libong tao sa kanyang Departamento,” he stressed. “Ngunit hanggang sa araw na ito ay naghahanap pa rin ng ibang masisisi at nagtuturo pa rin ng ibang taong lulutas ng kapalpakan si Secretary Abaya.”

(The reality is that Secretary Abaya has been in his position for two years, there are billions of pesos in the budget for MRT, there are thousands of employees under the Department. But to this day, Secretary Abaya is still looking for people to pass the blame to and pointing fingers at people who he thinks should provide solutions to the problem.) – Rappler.com