Senate vows to unmask real owners of helicopters sold to PNP

MANILA, Philippines - The Senate Blue Ribbon committee vowed to unmask the real owners of the two helicopters passed off as new when sold to the Philippine National Police in 2009 but which turned out to be used.

Committee chairman Sen. Teofisto Guingona III said they expect officials of Lion Air and Manila Aerospace Products Trading (Maptra), the suppliers of the aircraft, to shed light on the matter when they appear before the committee, possibly on Tuesday.

There was not much information in last Thursday’s hearing that pointed to former first gentleman Jose Miguel “Mike” Arroyo or any member of his family as the previous owner of two of the three choppers. Only one of the three helicopters turned out to be new.

A police pilot, Superintendent Claudio Gaspar, testified on Thursday that while members of the Arroyo family were his frequent passengers, he had no knowledge of the ownership of the helicopters.

What the committee established last Thursday was that two of the three helicopters in the P103-million deal were pre-owned by private parties.

Guingona said PNP officials who attended last Thursday’s hearing appeared to be hiding something and would not take responsibility for the purchase.

“If you notice during the hearing (last Thursday), the PNP officials were trying to cover up something. They are covering up and then they resorted to pointing blame to others. It’s obvious that there are powerful persons behind this transaction, whom they wanted to protect,” Guingona said over dwIZ radio yesterday.

Guingona lashed out at members of the PNP inspection team who signed the documents for the purchase but did not actually receive the helicopters. – With Cecille Suerte Felipe