Quotes from Senate President Pro-Tempore Ralph Recto at this am's hearing of the Public Services committee

--The Metro Rail Transit (MRT) is the very first Public-Private Partnership (PPP) project in the Philippines, built in 1998. After 15 years of operation, we're now seeing a host of problems plaguing the MRT. We should learn from these mistakes so that the same doesn't happen to our other PPP projects.

--The DOTC and DOF decided in 2008 to buy back the MRT for $90M. However, they purchased bonds, not equity at premium price "to improve the system". We say that we are subsidizing every commuter, but in truth, part of that difference (between cost and ticket price) is the equity lease and maintenance expenses.

--We must be careful with the bidding process--kung pataasan ng bid ang mangyayari, taongbayan ang magbabayad.

--We cannot stress enough how important railway infrastructures are in developing the economy. Unfortunately, there seems to be no clear business model for these PPPs.

--What will our railway systems look like by 2020? The Philippines has 95 kilometers of railways, far less than other Southeast Asian nations.

--We have been giving tens of billions to the MRT yet we still cannot improve the system.

--The Philippine National Railways (PNR) charter was extended with a promise from the DOTC that they will come back and tell Congress how they plan to move forward with expanding and rehabilitating the PNR.

--On the other hand, the LRT Line 1 Expansion to Cavite was stopped by a TRO before it even started.

**Sen. Recto filed Senate Resolution No. 810 earlier this year: RESOLUTION DIRECTING THE APPROPRIATE SENATE COMMITTEE TO CONDUCT AN INQUIRY, IN AID OF LEGISLATION, ON THE BIDDING PROCESS OF PUBLIC-PRIVATE PARTNERSHIP (PPP) PROJECTS, WITH THE END IN VIEW OF ENSURING THAT THE FILIPINO PEOPLE WILL BENEFIT FROM QUALITY PUBLIC SERVICES AT THE LEAST POSSIBLE COST