Reso filed seeking Senate probe on PNP patrol jeeps purchase

Senator Grace Poe on Friday filed a resolution urging the Senate to look into the alleged irregularities in the purchase of P1.9 billion worth of patrol vehicles by the Philippine National Police.

Poe filed Senate Resolution No. 777 days after expressing her intention to have the 2015 purchase of Mahindra Enforcer and Mahindra Scorpion vehicles probed.

In the resolution, she stated that Republic Act No. 6975, otherwise known as the Department of the Interior and Local Government Act of 1990, mandates the PNP to procure equipment that will adequately protect the public.

However, according to the Commission on Audit (COA), the purchase of the vehicles supposedly "compromised security, crippled the police, and left citizens vulnerable."

a.)  The purchase of the vehicles was done “without the benefit of operational needs assessment”;

b.) The purchase was also marked by numerous “unsound changes in NAPOLCOM minimum standard specifications restricting in effect wider latitude in selecting the most suitable mobility assets”;

c.)  The actual performance of the initial 1,656 Mahindra vehicles was not evaluated;

d.) 206 units were not effectively utilized due to “frequent breakdowns, poor after sales services, and limited availability of spare parts”;

e.)  The PNP incurred additional costs of Php 59.379 million in the form of service fees which “…could have been otherwise used to acquire approximately 67 units of patrol jeeps”;

The COA report validated concerns raised by Poe in 2014 about the terms of reference for the purchase of the vehicles eliminating bidders other than Mahindra, which she said was not qualified to bid in the first place due to its lack of service centers.

"All forms of government misfeasance, malfeasance, and nonfeasance, especially with regard to government funds, must be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law," Poe's resolution stated.

The PNP on Tuesday vowed full cooperation in a Senate inquiry on the vehicles' purchase. —Rie Takumi/KBK, GMA News