2 overpriced helicopters landed at Malacañang many times - Lacson

MANILA, Philippines - Sen. Panfilo Lacson disclosed yesterday that two overpriced helicopters purchased by the Philippine National Police (PNP) in 2009 and passed off as brand new by suppliers, had frequently landed inside the Malacañang compound during the term of former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.

Lacson said the flight logs of the two refurbished Robinson Raven 44 helicopters revealed that the aircraft used Area 3 (A3) in Malacañang, which is a no-fly zone, and only the President could use the helipad at the Palace.

He said the flight logs reflected that the two helicopters made several landings at Area 3 inside the Palace, which could allegedly prove that the aircraft were owned by Malacañang officials.

“How could they explain that these two choppers frequented A3 in Malacañang, only the president could land or only the presidential chopper or the chopper carrying the president could land in Area 3,” Lacson said.

Lacson recalled that he was able to land at Area 3 during the time of then President Joseph Estrada.

He maintained that he has documents that would link former president and now Pampanga Rep. Arroyo and her husband Jose Miguel Arroyo to the anomalous sale of the two Raven helicopters to the PNP.

“During the Senate hearings, we’ll show documents that would indicate the helicopters were really owned by the first family,” Lacson said. “Used, that’s obvious, that’s a foregone conclusion. These are pre-owned helicopters sold as brand new. The PNP has an admission about this.”

Lacson also wants to investigate how the PNP used P105 million from its P2-billion annual budget for its Capability Enhancement Program (CEP) to purchase the PNP choppers.

The CEP is said to be a five-year plan to upgrade the equipment and facilities of the PNP, which were allocated in its regular budget.

Holding a copy of PNP document dated June 30, 2011, Lacson quoted a report from the chief of the PNP Air Unit to PNP chief Director General Raul Bacalzo informing the latter that the choppers were “pre-owned.”

Lacson said he has expressed concern over the two Robinson Raven 44 choppers, which were passed off as “brand new” to the PNP in 2009, but were previously owned by an Arroyo-controlled corporation.

He also lamented that the Manila hostage-taking incident on Aug. 23, 2010 at the Quirino Grandstand at Rizal Park in Manila could have ended without bloodshed if the police were properly equipped.

A fully equipped Robinson Raven chopper has an infrared capability that could have enabled the police to monitor the movements of hostage-taker Rolando Mendoza inside the tourist bus.

Lacson said the June 30 PNP report showed that “the 2 Robinson standard Raven are not brand new when the aircraft were delivered to the PNP on Sept. 24, 2009 due to its accumulated flight time record of more than 500 flying hours.”

“This is the contention of the PNP; we are not even sure if it’s only 500 hours,” Lacson said.

‘Arroyos bought 5 choppers in 2004’

Lacson, a former PNP chief, said there are reports that the Arroyos bought at least five helicopters which were used during the 2004 presidential elections.

“Why March 2004? Because they bought five helicopters to be used during the campaign. One of the helicopters crashed in Mountain Province wherein Gov. Luis Singson was one of the passengers, they were candidates for the senatorial race,” Lacson recalled, referring to Singson who ran but lost in his senatorial bid under the administration party.

Lacson said the police officials should not be blamed in the helicopter deal that was obviously forced upon them.

“In the first place, why will you buy a secondhand unit, which costs about $100,000 or $ 150,000 per unit or about P7 million. But how much did they sell these? P105 million for all three (helicopters),” Lacson said.

“I know that the PNP did not earn anything from this, in fairness to them. How will you get kickbacks when you are dealing with powerful people who owned the aircraft?” Lacson said.

Lacson has filed a resolution calling for a Senate inquiry into the anomalous PNP chopper purchase while the Senate Blue Ribbon committee chaired by Sen. Teofisto Guingona III had vowed to tackle the issue after the inquiry on the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) fund mess.

PNP probes helicopter deal

PNP chief Raul Bacalzo ordered the Directorate for Investigation and Detective Management (DIDM) to complete the investigation on the purchase of secondhand helicopters.

Bacalzo said the investigation will determine the criminal and liability of the officials who were involved in the purchase of the Robinson R44 Raven II and two Robinson R44 Raven I helicopters.

The PNP chief pointed out that “if the DIDM special investigation under Director Arturo Cacdac Jr. would say that there is criminal or any administrative liability then we will not hesitate to file the charges against the police officials involved.

“I have given him up to Friday to finish and complete the investigation and as soon as I receive the report then we will do corresponding actions,” said Bacalzo.

Lacson and Guingona have called for an investigation on the procurement since the supplier of the helicopters, Manila Aerospace Products Trading Corp. (MAPTRA), made it appear that the choppers were brand new.

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

He said that then PNP chief Director General Jesus Verzosa approved the supply contract worth P104.985 million.

Bacalzo directed the Directorate for Logistics to issue a demand letter in the event the DIDM found out that the aircraft were indeed not brand new.

He ordered that the two helicopters in question would not be used pending the result of the investigation.

Bacalzo assured the Senate of full cooperation during the investigation. “We will be very transparent and we will make available all records that we have on all questions that may arise from that transaction.” – With Cecille Suerte Felipe