THE Philippine National Police has awarded to a San Juan City-based company a P288-million contract for the supply of body cameras which are meant to ensure transparency in government’s war on drugs.
The awarding of the contract to EVI Distribution came after almost a year of public bidding process, which was marred by corruption involving three majors who were subsequently dismissed from the service.
PNP officer-in-charge Lt. Gen. Archie Gamboa announced the awarding of the contract to EVI Distribution Inc. yesterday.
Gamboa said the PNP will not acquire only body cameras but also “sophisticated, reliable, and a secure system” which provides complete management, real-time live streaming, data storage and backup, and overall connectivity and monitoring.
A National Management and Monitoring Center will be established as the unified data hub for the body camera system.
The PNP Information Technology Management Service will man the center, along with its 17 regional and 81 provincial monitoring centers.
The PNP opened a public bidding for the body cameras last year. Congress allotted funds for the project amid public clamor for transparency in the conduct of police operations against the illegal drugs trade.
The first bidding process failed when all eight proponents were disqualified for failure to meet specifications set by the PNP.
After the failed bidding, one of the proponents reported that three majors from the PNP Bids and Awards Committee took P5 million from the firm to ensure the company would bag the contract.
The majors — Emerson Sales, Rholly Caraggayan and Angel Beros — were investigated and subsequently dismissed by Gamboa from the service last month.
