Vitangcol: I was relieved and I resigned

MANILA - Resigned Metro Rail Transit 3 General Manager Al Vitangcol III on Tuesday clarified that he was not fired from his post but was only relieved of duty after the Department of Transportation and Communications started an inquiry into alleged anomalies in MRT-3. Speaking before a congressional investigation, Vitangcol said he was placed under preventive suspension and that an OIC was appointed to take over his place. "I deemed it best for everybody that I resign. So totoo pareho yun. I was relieved and I resigned," he told congressmen. Transportation Secretary Jun Abaya confirmed Vitangcol's statement, saying that only President Aquino can remove him from office. "GM Vitangcol is a presidential apointee so a presidential act is the only thing that can take him out of office," he said. Abaya said he relieved Vitangcol because the latter failed to declare his relationship to a winning bidder for an MRT contract. Philippine Star columnist Jarius Bondoc earlier wrote that in 2012, Vitangcol had awarded without bidding a P517.5-million contract to PH Trams, a two-month-old company with a paid-up capital of P625,000, for a 10-month maintenance of MRT-3 trains. Vitangcol's uncle-in-law, Arturo Soriano, is one of six incorporators-directors of PH Trams. ANC, May 27, 2014