Top Department of National Defense officials on Wednesday
failed to convince members of the Senate panel that the procurement of the
P1.2-billion helicopter deal between the DND and the joint venture of Rice
Aircraft Services Inc. (RACI) of the United States
At the continuation of the hearing by Senate Blue Ribbon
Committee chaired by Senator Teofisto “TG” Guingona III as regards the
transaction, DND assistant secretary Patrick Velez admitted the contract
was awarded to RACI despite being disqualified three times by the department’s
own Bids and Awards Committee (BAC).
“Yun na nga ang nakapagtataka, three times nang
na-disqualify, pagkatapos sa RACI pa rin nila (DND) ibinigay ang kontrata,”
said Sen. Joseph Victor Ejercito, one of the three senators who had filed a
resolution calling on the Senate panel to probe the scandal that first broke
out two months ago.
According to Velez, when the procurement project under the
Armed Forces’ modernization program finally got underway in 2012, the BAC had
to disqualify RACI, the first time for its “failure” to submit even “basic
documentary requirements”, the second time due to the more serious offense of
“falsification”, and the final time for again failing to submit basic
documentary requirements.
But according to Rhodora Alvarez, an employee at the Bureau
of Internal Revenue (BIR) who blew the whistle on the scandal using the alias
‘Joey,’ RACI still ended up getting the contract because it has been
“tailor-fitted” for RACI “from the very start”.
Appearing for the first time in an official investigation,
Alvarez said she ended up “coordinating” the procurement of the helicopters for
use in “combat mission” by the Philippine Air Force beginning in late 2013
after RACI’s Philippine representative, ‘Tac Nguyen,’ went into hiding after
being hunted by the US government for “misrepresenting” himself as an
“official” of the US Department of State.
She said she got to know Nguyen after the latter sought her
help in getting their clearance from the BIR, which is among the documentary
requirements by the DND.
RACI owner Robert Rice, who was also present during the
hearing, confirmed that Nguyen is now under detention in the US
As “coordinator,” Alvarez said she was privy to all the
details and every step of the negotiation for the delivery by RACI of
supposedly 21 “refurbished” ‘UH-1D’ helicopters that, she noted, was not the
original objective of the project.
She averred further that the changes in the contract and the
many violations by RACI of the country’s procurement law during its
implementation were done with the knowledge not only of Velez, but also, of
undersecretary of finance and munitions Fernando Manalo and DND Secretary
Voltaire Gazmin.
Alvarez said Manalo had represented the interest of RACI in
a previous transaction with the DND, a claim that Manalo denied at the end of
the hearing.
Guingona also asked Alvarez to repeat in a sworn statement
what she knows about the scandal as her allegations against the DND top brass
were “very serious”, Guingona noted.
“We asked her to submit a comprehensive affidavit, hindi
iyong pa-chop-chop lang,” Guingona said
Guingona said he would also be “arranging” for the physical
security of Alvarez who also bared the alleged threats on her person since she
first bared details of the scandal to the media.
http://www.interaksyon.com/article/110875/dnd-execs-fail-to-convince-senators-that-p1-2-b-chopper-deal-above-board
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