Former newscaster Jay Sonza has wrongly credited the Duterte administration solely for establishing the country’s first integrated land transport terminal, the Parañaque Integrated Terminal Exchange (PITX).
Sonza said in a Nov. 5 Facebook status update it only took Duterte two years to put up the terminal which five presidents failed to do in three decades.
STATEMENT
On the day President Rodrigo Duterte inaugurated the PITX, Sonza wrote:
“[It] took more than 30 years and 5 Presidents (Cory Aquino, Fidel Ramos, Erap Estrada, Gloria Arroyo and Noynoy Aquino) before a decent integrated terminal for public utility vehicles is put in place.
Just 2 years into office, the Duterte administration with the support of the private sector, the project is done.
Daig pa ang mga airport terminal sa ganda, linis, kagamitan at facilities. Maari naman palang mangyari ang dapat kung gugustuhin (It’s better than the airport terminals in terms of looks, cleanliness, equipment and facilities. It seems, things that should happen can happen, if there’s a will to it).”Source: Sonza, J., “It took more than 30 years and 5 Presidents,” Nov. 5, 2018
FACT
While the “landport” opened under the Duterte administration, the PITX project started Nov. 15, 2012 under former President Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III, according to the government’s Build Build Build website.
The project is covered by Executive Order No. 67 Aquino issued Feb. 21, 2012, which mandated the creation of two integrated transport terminals north and south of Metro Manila. The Public-Private Partnership project was previously called the Southwest Integrated Terminal Exchange.
Bidding for the project opened in January 2014, which MWM Terminals Inc. won a year later.
In a statement on its official Facebook page a day after the PITX’s inauguration, the Department of Transportation said the project did not begin under Duterte:
“Una sa lahat, batid at hindi itinatanggi ng administrasyong Duterte na hindi sa liderato nito nagsimula ang proyektong Parañaque Integrated Terminal Exchange (PITX).
Ang concession agreement para sa proyekto ay nilagdaan noong 24 April 2015, sa ilalim ng nakaraang administrasyon. Gayunman, malinaw ring inilabas lang ang ‘Notice to Proceed’ para sa proyekto noong 17 October 2016(First of all, the Duterte administration knows and does not deny that the project Parañaque Integrated Terminal Exchange (PITX) did not start under its leadership.
The concession agreement for the project was signed on 24 April 2015, under the former administration. Still, it is also clear that the ‘Notice to Proceed’ for the project was only issued on 17 October 2016)…”
Source: Department of Transportation official Facebook page, “PAGLILINAW sa mga isyung ibinabato kaugnay ng PITX,” Nov. 6, 2018
The DOTr added that construction began on Oct. 21, 2016 and ended last April 17.
Duterte’s P9 trillion Build, Build, Build program fast-tracks the approval and implementation of 75 priority infrastructure projects intended to “boost economic growth,” according to the National Economic Development Authority.
Several projects under Build Build Build predate Duterte’s term. These include the expansion of the Mactan-Cebu International Airport, which began in 2010 also under Aquino, and the development of the Tarlac-Pangasinan-La Union Expressway conceived in 1996 during former President Fidel V. Ramos’ term.
Sonza’s false post could have reached more than 1.3 million people. Traffic to the story from social media largely came from the pages Duterte Today, DuterteSerye, and BONGBONG MARCOS: CYBER SQUAD.
Sources:
Build.gov.ph, “Mactan-Cebu International Airport Project.”
Build.gov.ph, “Parañaque Integrated Terminal Exchange.”
Build.gov.ph, “Tarlac-Pangasinan-La Union Expressway Project.”
Department of Transportation official Facebook page, “PAGLILINAW sa mga isyung ibinabato kaugnay ng PITX,” Nov. 6, 2018.
Dotr.gov.ph, Notice of Award, Jan. 21, 2015.
National Economic Development Authority, “Socio Economic Report Chapter 19: Accelerating Infrastructure Development,” March 28, 2018.
Official Gazette, Executive Order No. 67, s. 2012, Feb. 21, 2012.
ppp.gov.ph, “Duterte ‘impressed’ with first ‘landport’ in PH,” Nov. 5, 2018.
ppp.gov.ph, General Bid Bulletin No. 01-2014, Jan. 10, 2014.
ppp.gov.ph, “Southwest Integrated Transport System (ITS) Project (Parañaque Integrated Terminal Exchange).”
(Guided by the code of principles of the International Fact-Checking Network at Poynter, VERA Files tracks the false claims, flip-flops, misleading statements of public officials and figures, and debunks them with factual evidence. Find out more about this initiative and our methodology.)
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