Nora Aunor on firetrucks: I'm no influence-peddler

Movie superstar Nora Aunor vehemently denied yesterday any involvement in the award of a contract for the purchase of 100 firetrucks for the Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP).

Budget Secretary Benjamin Diokno also said the alleged irregularity in the award of the firetrucks contract was a patent falsehood.

Aunor, a close friend of President Estrada, told TV Patrol on ABS-CBN yesterday that she did not even know Pepito Alvarez, owner of Columbian Motors Corp. which bagged the contract.

When she and the President's "best friend" Fernando Poe Jr. campaigned for Mr. Estrada, she said, they agreed not to be involved in anything that would create trouble if he won the presidency.

"Some people go to my house with papers," she said. "I tell them, no way. I'm prohibited from doing that."

Meanwhile, Diokno said, "This is another case of sloppy and irresponsible journalism. The newspaper failed to check the facts of the story."

The budget chief stressed that the contract for the supply of firetrucks has not yet been awarded to any bidder.

He added that the contract could not have been awarded to the Pilipinas Daeyang Heavy Industrial Corp. because while it submitted the lowest bid price, "under the bid rules it did not have the lowest evaluated bid."

Diokno explained that there were six factors consi-dered in evaluating the winning bid. These included the price which constitutes 50 percent of the criteria while the other 50 percent is divided equally among the other qualifications, namely, financial resources, technical capability, spare parts availability, availability of service centers and compliance with delivery schedules.

"These factors were discussed even during the pre-bid conference among the interested bidders," he said.

Diokno also criticized the newspaper for having reported an erroneous price for the firetrucks. "The amount involved is P273 million, not P305 million," he said.

Meanwhile, Aunor said yesterday, "Wala akong kinalaman sa firetrucks. Idinawit lang pangalan ko.(I don't have anything to do with the firetrucks. They just dragged my name into it." she said.

Also implicated in the deal was Paquito Diaz, a character actor who is known for playing villain's roles in Mr. Estrada's movies.

Diokno, for his part, said any insinuation that Aunor and Diaz had influenced the outcome of the bid is a malicious lie.

"I have not met nor talked with Miss Aunor or Mr. Diaz ever. And even if I have done so, it won't change the outcome. The Procurement Service has well established rules and transparent bidding procedures," he said.

Diokno added that yesterday's report confused the Procurement Service (PS) with the DBM. He said that while the PS is attached to the DBM, procurement procedures and activities are done by the PS and deliberated upon by the Inter-Agency Bid and Awards Committee (IABAC) which is not under the control or supervision of the department.

The IABAC, he said, is composed of two DBM representatives and other members from the departments of Finance and Trade and Industry and the Commission on Audit.

Meanwhile, one lawmaker moved yesterday to investigate the reported involvement of Aunor and Diaz in the firetrucks deal.

Iloilo Rep. Raul Gonzales, in a resolution, said Congress should summon Aunor and Diaz to shed light on their alleged lobbying for Columbia Motors.

Gonzales said that the bidding result showed Columbia to be only the second lowest bidder (P2.735 million per firetruck), next to Pilipinas Daeyang Heavy Industrial Corp. which offered a bid of P2.5 million for each truck.

"The P23.5 million for the entire purchase could have been saved had the government honored the final bidding result," he said.

Executive Secretary Ronaldo Zamora, for his part, said there was no awarding of contract that happened as the DBM has ordered a re-bidding for the trucks.

"It's back to square one. According to the DBM, it has been submitted for re-bidding," he said. --