A whistleblower tells senators that Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin was promised P84M in commission to give the chopper deal to Rice Aircraft Services
WHISTLEBLOWER. Former BIR employee Rhodora Alvarez gives a detailed narration of alleged corruption in the procurement of military assets. Photo by Alecs Ongcal/Rappler
Corruption in the defense department goes all the way to the top, according to a former agent of a United States-Canadian joint venture that won the allegedly anomalous P1.2-billion deal to supply the Philippine Air Force with 21 refurbished combat choppers.
Secretary of National Defense (SND) Voltaire Gazmin was allegedly promised a 7% kickback – about P84 million – while Defense Undersecretry for Finance Fernando Manalo got another 5% of the total project cost to cover his and his men's commissions, according to agent-turned-whistleblower Rhodora Alvarez in an affidavit submitted to the Senate blue ribbon committee last week.
On Tuesday, June 9, Gazmin
did not attend the continuation of the Senate committee hearing, but sent a
letter denying the allegations.
Both Gazmin and Manalo have denied before the
investigating Senate body. Alvarez admitted she had not dealt with Gazmin
himself but said she's confident that Manalo couldn't make those commitments
without his knowledge.
Alvarez said she was also supposed to get 3% or about P36 million. This means a total of P180 million or 15% of the total project cost was meant to pay grease money to ensure that the joint venture of US-based Rice Aircraft Services Incorporated (RASI) and Canada-based Eagle Copters Ltd won the contract.
FATHER FIGURE. Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin is the chief of the Presidential Security Group during the administration of President Benigno Aquino III's mother. MalacaƱang file photo
In response, Gazmin submitted to the Senate committee a letter to deny the claims of Alvarez.
"I categorically state that I have given strict
instructions to all Department of National Defense (DND) officials to avoid
acts of impropriety in all their dealings. I have never issued any instructions
to seek favors from any entity or manipulate transactions that would violate
the public trust and result in a disadvantage to the government," said
Gazmin, who did not attend the continuation of the Senate hearing on Tuesday,
June 9.
Gazmin is a father figure to President Benigno Aquino III. As commander
of the Presidential Security Group (PSG) of his mother, the late President
Corazon Aquino, he protected her administration from several coup attempts,
including the bloodiest in December 1989 that wounded now President Aquino.
In the Senate hearing, Alvarez provided detailed narration
of her supposed meetings with Manalo and Alvarez to make sure the only RASI
could win the project.
WINNING BIDDERS: Robert Rice (right) and Matthew Rice appear before the Senate hearing. Photo by Mark Cristino/Rappler
Senators have raised red flags on the chopper deal – delayed delivery of choppers and engine defects in 4 of the only 7 choppers it was able to deliver.
Senator Francis
Escudero also questioned why RASI, which failed the 3 public biddings for the
project, still won the contract during the negotiated bid.
"To my mind,
after two failed biddings, you should have learned your lesson already,"
Escudero said.
Defense
Undersecretary Pio Lorenzo Batino said the defense department is now
investigating the contract.
"We regret
that we have not yet formed conclusions to the facts we received. We are
collating everything to make a definitive conclusion on all of these matters,"
he said.
Air Force
chief's concerns
Alvarez said
RASI's choppers were only good as search and rescue choppers, not for combat
mission. She said this is why the choppers were not used by the Philippine Air
Force during the "all-out war" against the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom
Fighters earlier this year.
Senator Joseph
Victor Estrada said that Air Force pilots he talked to admitted to him that
they are afraid to fly those choppers.
It turned out Air
Force chief Lieutenant General Jeffrey Delgado had refused to accept the
choppers last year because RASI wanted to deliver them without the necessary
gun mounts. But the DND supposedly amended the terms of the contract to allow
separate delivery of the choppers and the gun mounts.
"I have a
memorandum signed by commanding general Lieutenant General Jeffrey Delgado to
Secretary of National Defense, saying that the request of Rice Aircraft is not
acceptable," Alvarez told the Senate hearing.
Alvarez said the
defense department repeatedly amended the contract to allow RASI's request.
AIR FORCE CHIEF. Lieutenant General Jeffrey Delgado. Photo by Mark Cristino/Rappler
Alvarez said the Air Force eventually received 21 gun mounts and most of them may be useless because the defense department has terminated the rest of the contract with RICE. The
The defense
officials, military officers, and representatives of the winning bidders were
encouraged to respond to allegations made by Alvarez in her affidavit.
Manalo earlier
confirmed that Alvarez used to be an agent of the US firm RASI. He said she's only
making up the allegations to extort money from the supplier. (READ: Insider tags Defense exec in
'anomalous' P1.2-B chopper deal)
The allegations
of Alvarez, however, have mostly targetted at Gazmin, Manalo, and Assistant
Secretary Patrick Velez and particular Air Force officers who were supposed to
scrutinize the qualifications of the bidder and the inspected the choppers upon
delivery.
She also accused
Manalo, a former Air Force general, of being an former agent of RASI. She said
this explains why he would supposedly favor the company.
http://www.rappler.com/nation/95822-whistleblower-tags-gazmin-chopper-deal-anomaly
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