A FACT-FINDING team from the Defense
department is due to start this week its investigation against
the officials who may be involved in the irregular bidding of
P1.2 billion worth of six night-capable attack helicopters.
Alberto Valenzuela, defense undersecretary
for legal affairs and special concerns, said the probe will
start by giving the officials involved in the bidding process
a copy of the investigation report that established the
irregularity.
"We intend to furnish all the officials and
officers of the DND who had involvement in the process in the
entire bidding process of the investigation report and require
them to comment. If they feel that they are affected by that
report, then they should comment," said Valenzuela.
Valenzuela is a member of the investigation
team headed by Ariston delos Reyes, defense undersecretary for
internal affairs. It was the same team which established the
irregularities in the bidding process.
The deal with the winning bidder, Asian
Aerospace Corp., the representative of McDonnel Douglas in the
Philippines, was subsequently scrapped by Defense Secretary
Gilberto Teodoro Jr. last Jan. 24 on the recommendation of the
team.
The team found the technical details of the
needed aircraft were altered. It said the alteration happened
in the preparations of the bidding documents and this is the
responsibility of the Bids and Awards Committee.
The helicopters offered by Asian Aerospace
– the MD 530 F – cannot meet the required payload load of
3,000 pounds. Worse, the firm had offered to sell 12
helicopters of the same type early last year to the defense
establishment for only P1.2 billion.
The initial investigation was ordered by
Teodoro based on the complaint of one of the disqualified
bidders, Swidnik of Poland. In its complaint, the Polish firm
detailed how the technical details of the bidding were altered
and how it was overpriced.
Teodoro tasked the team of Delos Reyes to look into the
liability of the members of the BAC, then headed by Roberto
Noqui, assistant secretary for comptrollership, who might have
been involved in the irregularity.
