Defensor PNR appointment questioned

Senate Minority Leader Aquilino Pimentel Jr. questioned the timing of the appointment of former presidential chief of staff Michael Defensor as chairman of the Philippine National Railways (PNR), saying it came at a time the government was considering an additional $299-million funding for the NorthRail Project.

“Mike Defensor is very influential with President (Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo) and any government post is his for the asking,” Pimentel said in a statement on Monday.

“He knows too much about the wrongdoing of this administration. They could not afford to displease him,” he said.

Pimentel said it was not a “coincidence” that Defensor’s appointment came while the government was considering the demand of the China National Machinery and Equipment Corporation for additional funding.

It was Edgardo Pamintuan, acting president of the North Rail Corporation, who recommended to Malacañang that the CNMEC be allowed to charge the additional amount although the original $503 million project cost has already been considered overpriced.

Pimentel criticized this move, saying that agreeing to this additional funding would make the project the “costliest” railway in the world—a “very unflattering description for our cash-trapped government and poverty-stricken country.”

“What the Chinese contractor is demanding in terms of additional funding is too onerous. They have not yet even installed any part of the railway but they are already asking for extra funding,” he said.

Pimentel said Malacañang should explain why it rejected the recommendation by resigned NRC president Arsenio Bartolome to terminate the contract with the CNMEC after it unilaterally suspended the construction work on the railway project.

The suspension was allegedly against the agreement and could be a basis for the termination of the contract.

Mike the miner

Today, the story is different. Malacañang wants the mining industry for itself, evidenced by a secret deal with ZTE (aside from the cancelled NBN), and by its agent, none other than Mike Defensor, chair of Geograce Resources Philippines, Inc.

This article is based on an interview of UP Professor and lawyer Harry Roque. Let us begin with some background. The original government corporation was the National Resources Mining Development Corporation (NRMDC), which has evolved into the Philippine Mining Development Corporation (PMDC) with Heherson Alvarez as chair.

PNR gets Defensor

It’s either President Gloria Arroyo is serious about rebuilding the Philippine National Railways (PNR) or she is reactivating the political career of a trusted lieutenant. She has appointed former Secretary Mike Defensor, PNR acting chairman.

The President is said to have been pleased with Defensor’s role in the partial opening of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport Terminal 3, a major aviation facility that took the government more than a decades to build and inaugurate. The terminal still has many defects. Despite Defensor’s assessment that it has become an A1 facility, a part of the ceiling fell. Still, if the former congressman can oversee with some success the launching of the terminal, he could rebuild the national railway that has continued to deteriorate in the past 50 years.

Why Defensor? He is a man of many talents, according to Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita, who announced his appointment the other day. He has served as chairman of the Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council, secretary of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources and presidential chief of staff before he ran for, and lost, in the 2007 senatorial race.

Acting or not, Defensor faces a tough job if he is serious about his work and determined to prove his worth. The original national railway was built during the Spanish rule, modernized by the Americans in the Commonwealth period and served the country well during the Japanese occupation of the islands.

The PNR started to decline in the 1960s. Several administrations failed to appreciate the system and to give it support. Past Congresses were not helpful either. Union politics and labor-management disputes contributed to its decay.

The national railways used to link Manila to La Union in the north and Manila to Albay in the south. Currently, travel is restricted to Caloocan up north although the Manila-Albay line continues, but not on a regular basis. The old service was fast, comfortable and generally safe. Most travelers preferred the train to the bus for speed, convenience and freedom of movement while on board the coach.

Most developed countries acknowledge their growth to the pioneering iron horses. Developing countries take pride in their train service. The train does not only carry human cargo, goods and animals. It helps unite a people. It’s the best alternative to road transportation.

Decaying coaches carry passengers these days. The tracks are rotting and often spirited away by thieves. Squatters have built shanties along the tracks. They are a threat to public safety. Many throw waste at passing trains. Accidents are commonplace.

Defensor (and his successors) must buy new coaches, rebuild the tracks and help expedite completion of the NorthRail and SouthRail expansion lines. Resettlement of the squatters must continue at a more vigorous pace. The modernization of the PNR, like the automation of elections, is one of the unfinished tasks of the administration.

President Arroyo needs more than a new chairman to overhaul the national railway. She must lobby the Congress to appropriate money for the PNR. She needs the help of the local governments to stop theft and ensure safety of travel. Modernization will not be completed by 2010, but she could initiate a good beginning and a breakthrough in mass transportation with a good chair and congressional support.

PGMA names Defensor, Quevedo and two others to important posts

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo appointed former Quezon City Congressman Michael "Mike" T. Defensor as acting chairman of the Philippine National Railways and Cotabato Archbishop Orlando V. Quevedo as chairman for the Presidential Task Force for the Mindanao River Basin Rehabilitation and Development.

Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita said in his weekly press briefing yesterday that President Arroyo had signed the appointment papers of Defensor and Quevedo, and three others on various dates. Their appointments will take effect upon their receipt of their respective appointments.

Defensor prior to his appointment was named by the President on June 19, 2008 as head of the Presidential Task Force on the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) Terminal 3 to ensure the immediate opening and operation of NAIA III based on the decisions of the Supreme Court and applicable laws.

Bishop Quevedo was ordained to the priesthood on Oct. 28, 1980 at the Cathedral of Kidapawan in North Cotabato.

Eighteen years later he was appointed as archbishop of Cotabato on May 30, 1998, a post he holds up to the present.

The other new appointees were Jose D. Mamaril as chief superintendent of the Bureau of Fire Protection, and Sancho S. Buquing as the new regional director for the National Commission of Indigenous Peoples.

Mike Defensor is acting PNR chief

MANILA, Philippines – (UPDATE) President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has named former environment secretary Michael Defensor as acting chairman of the Philippine National Railways (PNR), Malacañang has announced.

"Mike [Defensor] got his appointment already as acting chairman," Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita told a news conference at the Palace Wednesday.

Ermita also announced the appointments of Cotabato Archbishop Orlando Quevedo as chairman of the Presidential Task Force for the Mindanao River Basin Rehabilitation and Development; Jose Mamaril as chief superintendent of the Bureau of Fire Protection; and Sancho Buquing as regional director of the National Commission of Indigenous Peoples.

Ermita described Defensor as a "man of many talents." Prior to his new appointment, Defensor oversaw the opening of Terminal 3 of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA).

Among others, Ermita said Defensor would work on the Northrail project.

Defensor is the fifth losing senatorial candidate in the administration’s Team Unity ticket in the 2007 mid-term elections to get a government post.

Arroyo has named Ralph Recto as socioeconomic planning secretary, Vicente Sotto III as chairman of the Dangerous Drugs Board, Luis "Chavit" Singson as deputy national security adviser, and Prospero Pichay as chief of the Local Water Utilities Administration.

Madrigal & Defensor's Fight reaches the courts

Senator Ma. Ana Consuelo 'Jamby' Madrigal on Thursday filed a PhP100-M libel charge against a former Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) official before the Department of Justice (DOJ).

Madrigal filed the libel case against former DENR Secretary Mike Defensor with the Office of Senior State Prosecutor Diana P. Perez upon instruction by DOJ.

The case stemmed from the accusations of Defensor that the family of Madrigal has vast mining and logging interest in the country.

The senator vehemently denied the accusation.

According to the senator, she, herself, was surprised that the DOJ has directed her to file a libel case because of the ex-DENR secretary's allusions against her family in connection with mining and logging interest.

The senator said that in 2005 she challenged Defensor to deny that some 2,000 people in Aurora and Quezon provinces died due to illegal logging and mining.

Turning the table on her accuser, Madrigal claimed that Defensor is the one involved in logging and mining being one of the biggest mining partners of China in the Philippines.

The senator promised that if she wins the case, she would use the PhP 100-M for the construction of new houses and for livelihood of the families of illegal logging and mining victims in Aurora and Quezon Provinces.