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[av_heading heading=’Minority senators seek probe on Navy frigates’ tag=’h3′ style=’blockquote modern-quote’ size=” subheading_active=’subheading_below’ subheading_size=’15’ padding=’10’ color=” custom_font=” av-medium-font-size-title=” av-small-font-size-title=” av-mini-font-size-title=” av-medium-font-size=” av-small-font-size=” av-mini-font-size=” admin_preview_bg=”]
BY PRINCE GOLEZ
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January 20, 2018
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MANILA – Senators belonging to the minority bloc want to investigate the modernization program of the Armed Forces of the Philippines, particularly the acquisition of two brand new frigates for the Philippine Navy (PN).
In Senate Resolution No. (SRN) 584, the senators said the probe would determine if the P16-billion project for two missile-armed frigates “promotes the goals of the modernization program and complies with pertinent laws.”
The purchase of two warships was the first military contract signed under the present government and has the “biggest items” in the AFP modernization program, said senators Francis Pangilinan, Franklin Drilon, Antonio Trillanes IV, Risa Hontiveros, and Leila de Lima.
The Hyundai Heavy Industries (HHI) won the bidding for the project after the Garden Reach Shipbuilders and Engineer failed to meet the net financial contracting capacity requirement.
Vice Admiral Ronald Joseph Mercado was sacked as the Navy’s Flag Officer in Command because he “resisted the Department of National Defense’s (DND) implementation of the P16-billion project to acquire the frigates,” the resolution noted.
“The PN’s contract with HHI stipulates options between Hanwha Thales of South Korea, a subcontractor of Hyundai, and Tacticos Thales of Netherlands to provide the Combat Management System (CMS) for the warships. Mercado allegedly insisted on tapping Tacticos Thales to install the CMS on the two frigates because of the dissolution of the Hanwha Thales consortium in July 2016 before the contract with HHI was signed. However, HHI wanted to use Hanwha Systems, the subcontractor that replaced Hanwa Thales,” the minority bloc said.
To address the issue with the frigates project, DND secretary Delfin Lorenzana supposedly formed a “steering committee” that affirmed the selection of the CMS.
“There have been allegations that the formation of said committee, in the first place, violated the Government Procurement Act which does not provide for a creation of a steering committee but for a technical working group to serve as the technical arm for the bids and awards committee, composed of technical, financial, and/or legal experts,” the opposition senators said.
Reports earlier said that Special Assistant to the President (SAP) Bong Go allegedly intervened in the selection of the CMS.
Malacañang said the Senate has the “prerogative” to investigate Go’s alleged involvement in the frigates procurement controversy.
“We’re confident that SAP Go can stand his ground that he did not intervene,” said Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque yesterday.
Roque added that the investigation would also determine “if (the) Aquino (government) committed any anomalies in the bidding.”/PN
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