PNP denies liability in purchase of ‘disadvantageous’ patrol vehicles

The Philippine National Police on Tuesday denied that it committed lapses over the purchase of P1.893 billion worth of patrol vehicles, saying that it was the Department of Budget and Management that was in charge.

PNP spokesman Senior Superintendent Benigno Durana Jr. said the PNP only submitted the specification requirements needed for for the purchase.

"We have to emphasize that the procurement of Mahindra, from the bidding process until its procurement was not done by the Bids and Awards Committee by the Philippine National Police but by the procurement service of the Department of Budget and Management," Durana said.

"So it is beyond us, the only thing that we've contributed is to set the specification based on the operational needs assessment that were conducted earlier," he added.

The Commission on Audit has found out that purchase of P1.893 billion worth of patrol vehicles from Mahindra Enforcer and Mahindra Scorpio in 2015 became "disadvantageous" for the PNP due to various problems that plagued the vehicles.

The COA interviewed police officers using the vehicles and found out that 57.20 percent or more than half of them were unsatisfied  with the overall performance of the Mahindra vehicles.

The most common complaint about the vehicles was their high fuel consumption, which contradicts the specifications set by the National Police Commission for them to be fuel-efficient.

The COA blamed the problem on the PNP's failure to conduct an "operational needs assessment" before buying the vehicles. This, the COA said, "pushed back the full attainment of the objective of the Capability Enhancement Program (CEP) of the PNP."

The COA said the non-evaluation of the actual performance of the initial 1,656 Mahindra vehicles bought before buying additional units resulted in 206 units not being effectively utilized out of the total 2,054 units purchased.

Among the problems encountered with the vehicles were the frequent breakdowns, a poor after-sales services and a limited availability of spare parts that "impacted on its vision of a more capable, effective and credible police force."

Asked on why the PNP has failed to evaluate the actual performance of the 1,656 Mahindra vehicles initially bought, Durana said this could be only "accurately answered by the outcome investigation just in case the investigation will really take place."

In a separate report, the COA said the Philippine National Police has yet to receive the P1.347 billion worth of mobility and combat equipment it had bought two years ago, the Commission on Audit said in its report.

In its report, the COA found out that various mobility and combat asset requirements procured from the Philippine International Trading Corporation remained undelivered as of December 31, 2017, and have been outstanding for more than two years.

The COA noted since the fund transfers in 2016, none of the required items have been delivered and the memorandum of agreement did not provide a timeline of delivery, which the agency found "disadvantageous" to the PNP.

The COA said the combat assets "could have greatly contributed to the capability of the police force to effectively and efficiently accomplish its mandate and would have benefited PNP personnel had the items been delivered in the year where the Agency Procurement Requests (APRs) were issued to the PITC (Philippine International Trading Corporation)."

The undelivered items, the COA recommended, should be delivered within the next six months or else, the PITC should return the amount advanced to the company so it could be returned to the national treasury.

The PNP, meanwhile, "acknowledged and supported" the recommendations of the COA, particularly the "exercise of prudence in procuring only extremely urgent necessities" from the PITC.

Durana said they are already coordinating with the PITC, adding that officials from the Directorate for Logistics has conducted a meeting with PITC last Monday in order to "see where the bottleneck may have been in the hopes of improving delivery fulfillment between our two agencies."

" We will comply with the COA recommendations...Half of our legal team reviewed the bid documents of the said procurement and studied the option of getting a refund if in case it will not be given to us or probably if the funds were not obligated based on the Directorate of Intelligence, the money will be returned to the national treasury," Durana said. —NB, GMA News