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The decision relates to a 2009 deal of PNP officials who procured 75 rubber boats and 93 outboard motors that turned out to be incompatible, and therefore unusable for rescue operations amid disasters
MANILA, Philippines – The Commission on Audit (COA) has affirmed the graft conviction of police generals who, in 2009, recommended the procurement of rubber boats and motors worth P131 million that turned out to be unusable in disaster rescue operations.
After Tropical Storm Ondoy and Typhoon Pepeng devastated the Philippines in September 2009, the Philippine National Police (PNP) National Headquarters – Bids and Awards Committee (NHQ-BAC) issued a resolution two months later recommending the procurement of 75 rubber boats and 93 outboard motors through a negotiated purchase.
The original plan was to conduct a public bidding, but the recommendation cited the urgency to acquire the equipment to enable the PNP to respond to emergency situations for relief and rescue operations under conditions similar to the floods caused by Ondoy and Pepeng.
The boats and engines arrived, but were deemed unusable because of “functional incompatibility.” This meant the motors could not be installed on the rubber boats because the fittings did not match.
In June 2021, the Sandiganbayan convicted of graft former PNP chief Jesus Verzosa, and former police generals Benjamin Belarmino Jr., Jefferson Soriano, Luizo Ticman, Romeo Hilomen, and Villamor Bumanglag.
They were sentenced to six years imprisonment in relation to irregularities in the transaction.
Favored contractors?
The supply contract was sub-divided into three — Enviro-Aire Inc. with P27.96 million for 24 engine-less rubber boats and P44.175 million for all 93 motors; Geneve S.A. Phils. Inc. with P47.765 million to supply 41 rubber boats without engines; and Bay Industrial Philippines awarded with P11.65 million to deliver 10 engine-less rubber boats.
In 2012, COA’s Fraud Audit and Investigation Office found the procurement irregular because of the incompatibility issues, and how rules in public bidding were disregarded when the PNP gave undue advantage to the three suppliers. Deliveries were also delayed and without liquidated damages amounting to P8.51 million.
The COA also issued a notice of disallowance against the entire procurement deal.
Over a decade later, in 2023 and 2024, the COA en banc issued separate decisions denying motions for reconsideration filed by the PNP officials seeking to be relieved of liability.
“It is a well-entrenched precept that expenditures of government funds or uses of government property in violation of law or regulations shall be a personal liability of the officer or employee found to be directly responsible therefor,” the COA said. – Rappler.com
