Defense recommends filing of charges vs officials

MANILA, Philippines - The Department of National Defense (DND) has recommended the filing of charges before the Ombudsman against some of its officials involved in the scrapped P1.2-billion night-capable attack helicopter deal, Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro said.

In an interview at Camp Aguinaldo, Teodoro said the DND submitted to the Office of the Ombudsman a recommendation for the filing of graft and falsification charges against several officials whom he did not identify pending results of further investigation.

“We referred the results of our investigation to the Ombudsman, let’s leave the Ombudsman to find out whether or not there is a criminal violation. I basically re-endorsed the investigation report, and I’ll stop there already, let the Ombudsman do its job,” he said.

The DND has scrapped the bidding of the helicopters, which are part of the AFP’s Capability Upgrade Program, a comprehensive five-year modernization project aimed at improving the equipment of the military until 2010, after investigation revealed several irregularities in the process.

Teodoro has also ordered the investigating panel led by Defense Undersecretary Ariston de los Reyes to determine the possible liabilities of the private company that offered the aircraft, as well as defense and military officials who were involved in the bidding.

The bidding for the six helicopters was declared null and void after it was found out that the helicopters offered by Asian Aerospace Corp. did not meet the technical specifications required by the Air Force, which would use the aircraft.

The investigation revealed that the MD530F helicopter being offered by Asian Aerospace Corp., the only company that pre-qualified for the bidding, did not meet the 3,000 lbs. payload required by the PAF.

This finding of the DND bids and awards committee (BAC) was based on a previous communication of an officer of the company to the BAC chairman, as well as on the performance specifications of the MD530F helicopter posted on the website of McDonnel Douglas, the company represented by Asian Aerospace in the Philippines.

He explained that there had been an alteration of the technical specifications which were previously set by the PAF.

“These were changed without the approval of the secretary of national defense,” he said.

The DND investigating panel found deficiencies in the post qualification conducted by a team that was sent to the US to verify whether the MD530F complies with requirements for the night-capable attack helicopters.

Aside from alterations on the technical specifications, De los Reyes said they discovered that the same company offered 12 MD350F helicopters to the government for approximately the same price it is quoting for six units.