FOUR years after delivery, five units of Final Check Baggage X-Ray machines with automated Explosive Detection System (EDS) acquired by the Office of Transportation Security (OTS) to the tune of P173.73 million are barely operational due to frequent breakdowns.
State auditors said the purchase was done through the Procurement Service of the Department of Budget and Management (PS-DBM), three of which were delivered in December 2018 and two more in February 2019.
Two other machines installed at the Davao International Airport were later removed and transferred to the Philippine Air Force in 2020 on the requests of the Secretaries of National Defense and Transportation dated September 23, 2019.
The justification given by the Department of National Defense and the Department of Transportation for the transfer was “to fortify the security screening of all Presidential sorties.”
“During inspection conducted in 2022 …it was noted that the five remaining X-ray machines which were acquired less than five years ago, are not operational. According to the General Services Section, the machines were not fully utilized due to unreliability of the locally-manufactured ATRS,” the audit team said.
ATRS stands for Automatic Tray Return System, which is being blamed by the OTS for incompatibility with the machines, resulting in frequent breakdowns.
The manufacturer proposed to convert the ATRS into a stand-alone system and to continue supplying spare parts for post-warranty support but the OTS refused the offer, saying the service charge is “unreasonable and exorbitant.”
“Considering that the remaining five SSEs (security screening equipment) remain idle, non-operational, and not properly maintained for a considerable period, they become non-responsive to the objective of enhancing the security screening of the airports and are considered unnecessary expenditures that may be disallowed in audit,” the Commission on Audit said.
According to the former OTS administrator, the OTS offered the five X-ray machines as donations to the Manila International Airport Authority (MIAA) but the latter refused after learning of the frequent downtime and their limited operability.
The COA said the transaction violated Presidential Decree No. 1445, which requires government offices to safeguard all resources of the government against loss or wastage through illegal or improper disposition as well as COA Circular No. 2012-003 which defined unnecessary expenditures.
