PNP grounds helicopters mentioned in controversy

Manila, Philippines - The Philippine National Police (PNP) has grounded the helicopters sold to them as brand new but which turned out to be five-year-old, previously owned aircraft.

PNP spokesman Chief Superintendent Agrimero Cruz Jr. said the Robinson R44 Raven II and two Robinson R44 Raven I helicopters have already been grounded.

Cruz said the PNP still has other aircraft for use during the monitoring of situation when President Aquino delivers his second State of the Nation Address (SONA) on July 25.

He refused to further comment, but gave assurance that they would wait for the result of the investigation being conducted by the Senate.

Senators Panfilo Lacson and Teofisto Guingona III pressed for an investigation into the procurement since the supplier, Manila Aerospace Products Trading Corp. (MAPTRA), made it appear – with the knowledge of the PNP – that the choppers delivered were new.

Lacson said the purchase of three light helicopters for the PNP-Special Action Force’s Air Unit was planned on May 8, 2009 and the deal awarded on July 9, 2009.

According to him, then PNP chief Jesus Verzosa approved the supply contract worth P104.985 million, prior to the term of current PNP chief Director General Raul Bacalzo.

The STAR learned yesterday from a document that MAPTRA also sold a unit of rotary wing trainer aircraft Model R-22 Beta to the Navy.

But unlike in the P105-million deal the company entered into with the PNP for the two R44 Raven I light helicopters, MAPTRA only charged the Navy, then headed by retired Vice Admiral Rogelio Calunsad, P15.295 million for a unit of R-22 Beta.

However, the R-22 Beta appeared to be a lower version R-44 Raven that the PNP had acquired. The two helicopters turned out to have been pre-owned as per initial findings by police aviators who flew the aircraft.

Navy spokesman Lt. Col. Omar Tonsay said the light helicopter it acquired from MAPTRA is still operational.

However, it could not be determined if it was brand-new when delivered on Oct. 17, 2007 after MAPTRA won the bidding a month before.

Tonsay added that MAPTRA remains one of the Navy’s suppliers, specifically for requirements of the Philippine Fleet’s Naval Aviation Group.

A senior military official suggested that all MAPTRA’s transactions with the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) now deserve a review, without directly saying that there were anomalous transactions entered into by the defense and military establishments with civilian contractors and suppliers.

He said what happened with the PNP was a reflection of the entire procurement system in the government, including the AFP.

“If this thing happened to the PNP, how much more in the AFP,” he said.

Meanwhile, it was revealed that the group of former first gentleman Jose Miguel Arroyo had tried to sell a Bolkow helicopter to the PNP sometime in 2009.

Sources told The STAR that an initial P28 million was released by the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) to the PNP sometime that year after the chopper was “offered to the PNP.”

“There were efforts to sell the Bolkow unit to the PNP but it did not push through,” the source said, adding that the unit supposedly came from the Arroyo camp. – With Jaime Laude, Christina Mendez

The revelation came after Senator Lacson called on the Senate to investigate the allegations that ex-President Arroyo and her husband forced the PNP to purchase two second-hand Raven helicopters that they owned and passed off as brand new.

The DBM released the P28-million budget – placed in a Land Bank account – for the purchase of a pre-owned helicopter, BO 105 CB “Bolkow” for the use of the air unit of the PNP’s Special Action Force.

The Commission on Audit (COA) report on the PNP for 2009 reflected the amount in the list of unused funds.

But negotiations for the sale bogged down after the PNP found the Bolkow unit unfit for its needs since it was not brand new.

Since the purchase did not push through, the amount was reportedly eventually returned to the national treasury last year.

PNP officials were, however, mum on the first owners of the two secondhand helicopters, which is the subject of Lacson’s inquiry.

The former president’s husband had denied that their family sold the helicopters to the PNP.

Officials made the revelation after Mr. Arroyo himself admitted that the LTA Corp., of which he is an incorporator, owned a helicopter and sold it to another company named Fushion Link Inc.

Sources privy to the “offer” revealed that the offer came before the PNP’s procurement of two “pre-owned” Raven helicopters, part of the three air units it acquired that same year.

Mr. Arroyo had said that the chopper issue is nothing but another “sordid exercise to further malign our name.”

“This is again part of the continuing persecution to mask the lackadaisical performance of this administration to the detriment of the Filipino people,” he said.

“Neither I nor the former president sold helicopters to the PNP. The public should be wary of statements coming from a former fugitive from justice,” he added referring to Lacson. – Jaime Laude, Christina Mendez