PNP yet to receive P1B worth of purchased vehicles, weapons

At least P1 billion worth of the vehicles and weapons purchased by the Philippine National Police (PNP) four years ago remain undelivered to this day, the Commission on Audit (COA) said.

In its annual audit report on PNP, state auditors discovered that of the P1.3 billion worth of funds that the PNP transferred to Philippine International Trading Corporation (PITC) in 2016 for the purchase of mobility, firearms and other equipment, only P311 million worth of equipment were delivered.

“This leaves P1.036 billion [of equipment] still undelivered for more than three years.  The low delivery rate of 23.08% and undelivered equipment defeats the intention to which the PNP have engaged the services of PITC, that is, to facilitate the procurement process,” COA said.

“The remaining balance of P1,036,548,528.00 or 76.92 % which pertained to undelivered items such as utility trucks, automatic grenade launcher, light personnel carrier, etc. remained outstanding for more than three years, contrary to the objective mentioned in the Implementing Rules and Regulations of the Procurement law,” COA added.

State auditors then recommended that the PNP headquarters require the Directorate for Logistics to demand the immediate delivery of all remaining equipment.

Should the delivery fail, COA said that the PNP should demand the refund of its advance payments made to PITC or turnover any/all unused balance from completed projects and interest for deposit to the National Treasury.

In response to COA’s findings, the PNP told state auditors that representatives from its Accounting Division, Directorate for Comptrollership and Directorate for Logistics have met with PITC personnel and discussed the status of unliquidated fund transfers as reflected in the Summary of Project Status Report prepared by PITC.

The said report showed that the P316 million worth of equipment delivered included:

• 141 units of Light Machine Gun 7.62 mm
• eight units Light Machine Gun 5.56 mm and
• 1,677 units of Basic Assault Rifle 5.56 mm

“The Accounting Division is now coordinating with the Directorate for Logistics on the submission of the Certificate of Acceptance for the liquidation of the equipment delivered,” the PNP said.

The audit report said the PNP did not comment on the non-delivery of its equipment purchase worth P1 billion. -NB, GMA News