Sen. Nancy Binay yesterday called on the Senate to look into the alleged defects in the new coaches the government has bought for the Metro Rail Transit 3 system.
Binay said a Senate inquiry into the alleged dysfunctional coaches is necessary especially after reports surfaced the new coaches bore defects and are not working.
She filed Senate Resolution No. 304 calling on the Senate to investigate, in aid of legislation, and look into the issues.
“According to news reports, the new MRT coaches were not working and 12 of them had cracks,” Binay said.
“Kung totoo nga, bagong pahirap na naman ito sa ating mga commuters dahil maaantala lalo ang introduction to service ng mga tren,” the senator said.
The new coaches were part of the 48 bought from Chinese firm Dalian Locomotive and Rolling Stock Corp. for P3.8 billion in 2013 by the then Department of Transportation and Communication.
Binay, along with Sen. Grace Poe, who was then the chairperson of the Senate sub-committee on transportation, inspected in September 2015 the prototype of the coaches that do not have an engine at the time of the inspection.
According to the lawmaker, even the required test runs to ensure safety and compatibility of the coaches to the MRT system were also allegedly not met as stated by Metro Rail Transit Holdings Inc. President Robert Sobrepeña. (Hannah L. Torregoza)
