Hi macsd, anomalous does not necessarily mean illegal. The MRT contract is anomalous in the sense that it puts the Philippine government and the Filipino people in a terrible disadvantage. I say this because MRTC (the owners of the MRT) is guaranteed a 15% dollar-denominated return for the next 25 years. I'm sure you're familiar with investments, and you'd be hard-pressed to find a deal as good as MRTC's deal with the government.
I'm also quite disturbed with your understanding of the entire MRT situation. I would recommend for you to read this article:
On a clear day you can see the MRT | The Society of Honor by Joe America. It's quite lengthy and a bit technical, but I'm sure that you're smart enough to understand it.
A few key points to answer your post directly:
- It is not the government that is directly responsible for bidding out and finding a suitable maintenance contractor for the MRT. That's MRTC's job. The government just pays.
- Sumitomo had been screwing up the maintenance of the MRT as early as 2005. Yet, they were renewed 4 times by MRTC, charging higher fees each time.
- It came to a point where Sumitomo's service was so poor (no spare parts, had to cannibalize parts from other trains, counterfeit replacements) and they were charging so high, that the government had to step in because MRTC wasn't doing their job (ensuring the MRT is maintained properly).
- An emergency bidding was called (because a normal bidding would take 6 months to a year, and you can't stop MRT operations for that long) and this was when PH Trams/CB&T came in. While PH Trams was a new company without the size and scale to maintain the MRT, CB&T has actually been in the business for a long time, and has been responsible for the maintenance of LRT1.
- PH Trams was found to have ties with Vitangcol, which is why he was sacked and is now facing graft charges.
Bottomline: The MRT deal was so one-sided, and MRTC has been doing a very poor job of running and maintaining the MRT, that the government had to step in and correct the issue. They are now looking to buy out the contract so that the government can own, maintain, and operate the MRT themselves. However, this is a tedious and expensive (to the tune of 47 billion) process, so it will take time before the government can fully execute this plan and exercise ownership of the MRT.
Until then, the government is doing its best with a terribly broken system, most notably with the acquisition of the much-needed new MRT coaches.