FORMER Quezon City Councilor and now transport advocate Ariel Inton called it the “Biggest Tollway (Highway) Robbery” and if the facts presented by the Public Estates Authority Tollway Corporation (PEATC) explaining their filing of a Writ of Mandamus with the Court of Appeals (CA) in an effort to regain control of the Manila-Cavite Expressway (CAVITEX) are true, the “highway robbery” description is accurate.
Last Friday, April 19, the PEATC held a press conference in Quezon City to answer a previous presscon by the Cavitex Infrastructure Corp. (CIC) which assailed PEATC’s going to court in an effort to regain control of the operations and maintenance (O&M) of the lucrative tollway.
PEATC President and Officer in Charge (OIC) Steve Esteban, who said he is a Duterte appointee but was made OIC by the board just seven months ago, clarified that the operations and maintenance agreement (OMA) that gave CIC the O&M responsibility of CAVITEX ended on Aug. 25, 2021, based on Philippine Reclamation Authority (PRA) Board Resolution 5383.
Esteban said the O&M of CAVITEX should have been turned over to PEATC – a government-owned and -controlled corporation created by the PRA for tollways management – beginning Jan. 1, 2022.
From the current 90 percent to 10 percent revenue-sharing in favor of CIC, he said CAVITEX revenue-sharing would change to 60 percent to 40 percent in favor of the government once the O&M returns to PEATC.
He noted that a toll decrease on CAVITEX is possible once the O&M of CAVITEX is returned to the government. Esteban said they continue to engage the private firm in dialogues but they insist on their way of running the business, saying the Commission on Audit has no jurisdiction over them because they are private.
Corruption in the tollway
In addition to CIC’s refusal to turn over CAVITEX, Esteban alleged that he witnessed “rampant corruption” in CIC’s operations through the existence of tollbooths with no point-of-sale (POS) machines.
These toll booths, he said, still receive payment from expressway users despite not recording these transactions in their system, and thus are untaxed revenue.
Esteban disclosed that a modular booth of this nature which does not report revenues funnels all the money collected to the CIC, which is about P267,000 a day of operation or P8,010,00 for 30 days.
Metro Pacific’s side
Meanwhile, the Metro Pacific Tollways Corporation (MPTC) believes that the case filed by the PEA Tollway Corporation (PEATC) against its subsidiary, Cavitex Infrastructure Corporation (CIC) will be dismissed.
In a press conference, MPTC President & CEO Rogelio L. Singson pointed out that PEATC Officer-in-Charge Dioscoro Esteban Jr. has no authority in filing for a writ of mandamus without a PEATC Board approval since there is no PEATC Board to begin with.
The PEATC is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Philippine Reclamation Authority (PRA). Singson also questioned the absence of the PRA as a respondent, being a part of the Joint Venture Agreement with CIC for the Manila-Cavite Toll Expressway Project or CAVITEX.
MPTC has consistently extended invitations to PEATC for a proper dialogue but were unfortunately diregarded.
Singson added,
“We believe that, based on the advice of our lawyers, the case should be dismissed outright by the Court of Appeals because of a false and defective verification and certification and something as basic as filing the mandamus without proper authority of the PEATC or PRA Board and without the sign-off of the proper counsel, the Office of the Government Corporate Counsel (OGCC).”
Full support from Lopez
Anent the above, Esteban said the Philippine Reclamation Authority (PRA) which is the mother corporation of the PEATC, headed by Alex Lopez, has authorized him to file the mandamus petition with the Court of Appeals, and “Chairman Lopez is in full support of the PEATC’s move to regain control of Cavitex.” This was also confirmed by Atty. Ariel Inton, spokesman of PEATC.
It should be noted that that PEATC is a government corporation without an original charter, so that it is operation is governed by the Corporation Code.
“A writ of mandamus is the first step towards that direction. We need that to calculate how much we should be charging for,” Esteban said.
In February, a writ of mandamus was filed before the Court of Appeals (CA) due to the CIC’s refusal to turn over CAVITEX.
Esteban emphasized that the case is not a dispute, but is a request for help from the CA for the proper turnover of the project, and thereby not part of any arbitration agreement.
“Bakit sinasabing walang dispute? Kasi ang mandamus, it means ministerial duty. Meron duty itong taong ito na hindi niya ginagawa (Why are we saying there is no dispute? Because mandamus is about ministerial duty. This person has a duty that they’re neglecting). They should comply,” he said.
He added that the Commission on Audit (COA) has sent the PEATC multiple audit observation memos due to their failure to take control of CAVITEX, noting that the CIC is immune from the same government oversight as a private company.
#WeTakeAStand #OpinYon #ArielInton #SteveEsteban #CAVITEX #PEATC #COA #CA #OGCC #BIGGESTTOLLWAYROBBERY #