More scam

 

The government has been accelerating the modernization of the armed forces in light of the escalation of our ongoing territorial dispute with China in the South China Sea/West Philippine Sea. In fact, our military is one of the weakest in Southeast Asia. But apparently this intensified build-up—and the urgent need to get our hands on as much modern equipment as possible—has been used as an excuse to make shortcuts in procurement.

The Commission on Audit (COA) has found several irregularities in the 2014 procurement deals of the Armed Forces of the Philippines which included the purchase of helicopters, armored vehicles and communication equipment totaling P24.883 billion.

The state auditing firm said the AFP purchased the questioned items without holding public bidding as required under Republic Act 9184 or the Government Procurement Reform Act. 

The AFP instead resorted to alternative modes of purchase such as negotiated procurement under emergency cases, direct contracting and negotiated procurement under the Defense Cooperation Agreement.

The COA said that while some modes of procurement can be allowed under RA 9184 “in highly exceptional cases," the AFP failed to have met the “conditions” that would justify its 2014 procurement activities.

The other deficiencies included non-submission of complete documents, preventing the auditors from completing the review of the contracts.

The Department of National Defense maintains that there is nothing irregular with the procurement of the items mentioned in the COA, especially in consideration of existing “internal and external security situations."

There's the rub. Do pressing internal and external security threats justify shortcuts? We don't think so. The DND explanation doesn’t hold water, and sounds suspiciously like some unscrupulous fellows in the military establishment are running circles around the government's procurement laws.

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