15 years after, COA affirms PNP generals liable for P131M rescue boats that never sailed

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FIFTEEN years ago, the PNP tried to acquire 75 rubber boats with outboard motors for a total contract cost of P131.55 million.

The boats and engines arrived but turned out to be unusable due to “functional incompatibility” – the outboard motors do not match the fittings on the rubber boats.

At the time, the government had just been reminded how woefully unprepared it was to meet the challenges of severe flooding in urban areas after Tropical Strom Ondoy and Typhoon Pepeng struck within days of each other in September 2009, killing more than 1,000 people.

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While the original plan was to conduct a public bidding, the PNP National Headquarters – Bids and Awards Committee issued a resolution dated November 24, 2009 recommending that the procurement of 75 rubber boats and 93 outboard motors be made through a negotiated purchase.

This recommendation cited the urgency to acquire the equipment to enable the PNP to respond to emergencies for relief and rescue operations under conditions similar to floods caused by Ondoy and Pepeng.

Among the members of the NHQ-BAC then were Police Generals Benjamin Belarmino Jr., Jefferson Soriano, Luizo Ticman, Romeo Hilomen, and Villamor Bumanglag. Then PNP chief Jesus Verzosa approved the committee’s recommendation.

They were convicted of graft by the Sandiganbayan on June 25, 2021 and sentenced to six years imprisonment in relation to alleged irregularities attendant to the transaction. Their motions for reconsideration were also denied by the anti-graft court on July 19, 2022.

The supply contract was subdivided into three with Geneve S.A. Phils. Inc. getting P47.765 million to supply 41 rubber boats without engines and Bay Industrial Philippines awarded P11.65 million to deliver 10 rubber boats without engines.

Enviro-Aire Inc. won the biggest chunk with P27.96 million for 24 rubber boats without engines and P44.175 million for all 93 outboard motors.

A report by the Commission on Audit’s Fraud Audit and Investigation Office (FAIO) in 2012 found the procurement irregular for disregarding rules in public bidding, for giving undue advantage to the three suppliers, for delayed deliveries without imposing liquidated damages amounting to P8.51 million, and incompatibility issues between the boats and the outboard motors that rendered them unusable.

During the same year, the COA issued a notice of disallowance against the whole procurement deal.

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 over the disallowance.

“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 therefore,” the Commission declared.

The rulings were signed by COA Chairperson Gamaliel Cordoba and Commissioners Roland Café Pondoc and Mario G. Lipana. 

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