SECRETARY Mark A. Villar of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DWPH) has expressed willingness to look into existing concession contracts for possible “onerous” provisions in line with President Rodrigo R. Duterte’s order.
“Definitely if we find something onerous, we will investigate,” Mr. Villar said in Malabon City on Friday on the sidelines of the inspection of NLEX Harbor Link Segment 10 C3-R10 Section when asked to comment on Mr. Duterte’s order to review government contracts with the private sector.
“We are always looking [at the contracts]. So far, wala pa kaming nakikitang onerous (so far, we have not yet seen any onerous provisions) … If we can see anything. But of course, as far as the road projects, so far wala pa kaming nakikita na onerous (we don’t see anything onerous),” he said.
Mr. Duterte, who ordered the review of all government contracts in April last year, approved recently the review of Ayala Land, Inc.’s (ALI) contract to develop a 20-hectare site on Commonwealth Avenue opposite the UP Diliman campus in Quezon City, a site which became the UP-Ayala Land Technohub.
The deal becomes the second contract of the Ayala group contract under review by the government for alleged “onerous” provisions, after state officials questioned the water contracts for Metro Manila’s water distribution agreed with two providers in 1997, including Ayala-controlled Manila Water Co., Inc.
Mr. Duterte also said recently that he wanted a review of the government’s contract with Light Rail Manila Corp. (LRMC), the operator of Light Rail Transit Line 1 (LRT-1).
LRMC is a joint venture company of Metro Pacific Investments Corp.’s (MPIC) Metro Pacific Light Rail Corp., Ayala Corp.’s AC Infrastructure Holdings Corp., and the Philippine Investment Alliance for Infrastructure’s Macquarie Infrastructure Holdings (Philippines) PTE Ltd.
Mr. Duterte said he had learned that the separate companies led by businessmen Fernando Zobel de Ayala and Manuel V. Pangilinan “are getting most of the contracts.”
A congressman then filed a resolution seeking to investigate the alleged onerous concession agreement between the government and LRMC.
MPIC is one of three Philippine subsidiaries of Hong Kong’s First Pacific Co. Ltd., the others being PLDT, Inc. and Philex Mining Corp.
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