You are currently browsing the daily archive for December 2nd, 2008.
By Francis Allan L. Angelo
A MEMBER of the Iloilo City Bids and Awards Committee who received the controversial rifles for the Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) team is said to be eluding members of the City Council probing the transaction.
This even as more discrepancies were discovered by the City Council in the transaction surrounding the firearms.
Agustin Sangrador, chief of the General Services Office (GSO), was nowhere to be found and cannot be reached by Vice Mayor Jed Patrick Mabilog and Councilor Erwin Plagata Monday.
Mabilog and Plagata initially asked Sangrador about the location of the five assault rifles, which the City Hall bought for the SWT team, to examine and verify its make and authenticity.
The City Council wanted to probe the actual rifles as part of its executive session to determine if the transaction should be investigated in aid of legislation.
Mabilog said Sangrador told him that the rifles were kept in the vault of the Iloilo City treasurer.
“Treasurer Kate Tingson confirmed that the rifles were in the vault but she said only the GSO can retrieve the rifles. A certain Ricky of the GSO was the one who brought the rifles to the treasurer’s office. We tried to reach Sangrador at his office and his cellphone but he was out of reach already. Then a GSO staff told us that she will try to contact Sangrador,” Mabilog said.
Sangrador was the one who received the rifles from Roberto Herbolario of R. Espineli Trading last October 16, 2008.
Councilor Perla Zulueta said she was not surprised by Sangrador’s actions after she exposed questionable elements in the purchase of the rifles.
Zulueta yesterday outlined to The Daily Guardian more discrepancies in the rifles’ specifications indicated in the purchase order (PO) and the official Olympic Arms website.
Olympic Arms is the manufacturer of the five rifles which are classified in its online catalog as K23B ‘Stubby.”
The lady councilor said she noticed that the rifles’ barrel length in the website was 22.5 inches while in the PO issued by the BAC the length was only 21 inches.
The weight of the rifle in the Olympic website was 5.45 lbs. but in the PO it was 5.5 lbs.
“Based on the specifications we got, the original rifle is lighter and longer compared to what the City government bought which were short and heavy,” Zulueta said.
It was also found out that the original rifles are semi-automatic, not full automatic as indicated in the PO. The twist or grooves inside the barrel were also different: the original Olympic Arms specification showed the rifle twist is 1×7 while the SWAT rifles have 1×9 twists.
Zulueta said she sent an email to Olympic Arms to find out if R. Espineli is one of its accredited suppliers in the country.
The lady councilor earlier exposed that the insurance policy used by the supplier for the five assault rifles is good for public works, not a firearms bond.
The transaction is also deemed under insured, Zulueta said, because the bond was only P202,500 while the contract price was P675,000.
Plagata said he will send a letter to Sangrador asking why he eluded the councilors Monday.
“We will exhaust all procedures before we begin a full-blown investigation in this matter,” Plagata said.
SWAT rifles deal fishy
By Francis Allan L. Angelo
THE transaction surrounding the purchase of the supposed substandard automatic rifles for the Iloilo City Special Weapons and Tactics team is riddled with questions.
In an interview with The Daily Guardian on Air over Aksyon Radyo-Iloilo, Councilor Perla Zulueta said it appears in the bidding abstract that only one contractor, R. Espineli, joined the bidding for the five AR-15 rifles last March 2008.
A certain Bert Herbolario from Bacolod City represented Espineli in the bidding conducted by the Iloilo City Bids and Awards Committee headed by Atty. Edgardo Gil.
The other members of the BAC are city administrator Melchor Tan, executive assistant to the city mayor Francis Te, Ninda Atinado and General Services Office chief Agustin Sangrador.
The bidding papers also showed the five rifles cost P135,000 each, not P139,000 as claimed by a SWAT member who appeared before the City Council’s budget hearing last November 21.
The request for purchase of the five rifles was made last February by then SWAT head Chief Insp. Kim Legada while the bidding was held last March.
Espinelli won the contract and delivered the rifles October 16. The City Government then paid the contractor P675,000 March 29.
UNDER INSURED
What surprised Zulueta is the performance bond and warranty of the rifles underwritten by Sterling Insurance Co. managed by Dama de Noche Gordoncillo.
Instead of the usual firearms bond, the insurance only covered construction contracts of public works. Worse, the bond was signed October 10, 2008 but it already expired February 2008 or 10 months ago.
“This is fraudulent. This was deliberate. How can they fix this when the City government signed an expired insurance policy which only covers public works contracts?” Zulueta said.
Zulueta also pointed out the bond’s insured amount is not enough to cover the contract price of the SWAT rifles.
“This transaction is under-insured because the contract price is P675,000 but the insurance is only P202,500,” she said.
The insufficient bond and insurance will somehow affect the Iloilo City government’s plan to have the supplier replace the alleged defective rifles, Zulueta said.
The alleged substandard AR-15 rifles surfaced after SWAT members complained that it was impossible to zero-in the target sights of the firearms.
Councilor Erwin Plagata said aside from the defective sights, he also noticed that the body paint of the rifles flaked when scratched.
Zulueta said gun experts who saw the controversial rifles noticed that the lower receiver of the firearms, which includes the grip, magazine feed, trigger, serial number and other details of the gun “look fake.”
When asked if who is to be blamed for the SWAT rifles transaction, the lady councilor said the BAC should answer for the supposed irregularities because it is the agency which examined the bid documents of Espineli.
Zulueta said she would rather that the contractor returns the money paid by the City Government for the rifles although she “cannot second guess the attitude of Espineliand Herbolario.”
By Francis Allan L. Angelo
MAYOR Raul “Boboy” Tupas of Barotac Viejo, Iloilo brushed aside stories that his fellow mayors have abandoned him in his reported bid for Iloilo governorship in 2010.
This was Tupas’s reaction to a report that majority of Iloilo mayors preferred to meet Rep. Arthur Defensor (3rd district, Iloilo) last November 19 instead of joining a dinner with Senator Mar Roxas.
Tupas is reportedly running for governor opposite Defensor who will attempt a comeback in the Iloilo Capitol after finishing his three 3-year terms as congressman.
Tupas said their original intention was to meet Senator Juan Miguel Zubiri at the sidelines of the League of Municipalities of the Philippines (LMP) national convention November 19-21.
The proposed meeting with Zubiri, which was discussed during the LMP-Iloilo 11th regular meeting in Lambunao a week before the national convention, will focus on the senator’s P500,000 financial aid to each Iloilo mayor.
“We discussed the meeting in the house of Lambunao Mayor Reynor Gonzales where we decided to convince Senator Zubiri to write the Department of Public Works and Highways that the mayors will forge memoranda of agreement with his office so that the municipalities will implement projects using his aid,” Tupas said.
Tupas said a total of 26 Iloilo mayors attended the national convention held at the Manila Hotel.
On November 18, a staff of Roxas called Tupas and invited LMP-Iloilo members to a dinner at the senator’s residence in Cubao, Quezon City.
Since they were already committed to meet Zubiri at the Emerald Hotel, Tupas said he told Roxas’ staff that they will just catch up.
Incidentally, Reps. Defensor and Ferj Biron (4th district, Iloilo) also called up the mayors to a meeting also at the Emerald Hotel, Tupas said.
“We were put in a quandary because some of the mayors told me that they will meet their respective congressmen. Our original intention was to meet Senator Zubiri because of his financial aid. But Mina Mayor Rey Grabato later said that we will honor the invitation of the congressmen and will try to catch up with the dinner with Senator Roxas,” he said.
The mayor said they later decided that he and Mayor Carlos Cabangal will go ahead at the Roxas residence while their fellow chief executives will meet Zubiri and the congressmen.
In his recollection of what his fellow mayors told him, Defensor, Biron, Iloilo Vice Governor Rolex Suplico, former Senate president Manny Villar and his wife Las Piñas Rep. Cynthia Villar met the Iloilo mayors at Emerald Hotel.
“The other mayors said politics was not discussed in their meeting with the congressman because their main purpose was to see Senator Zubiri. It just so happened that the congressmen decided to hold their meeting at the Emerald Hotel also when they learned that we will meet with the senator,” Tupas said.
Tupas said he did not insist or pressure his fellow mayors to meet Roxas at their family’s “White House” in Cubao.
“I told them that they can catch if they want to. Pressuring other people is not my style,” Tupas said.
Tupas said the meeting with Roxas pushed through November 20 with 15 mayors joining them. Some of the mayors, he added, were also identified with Defensor.
“I just told them that those who want to come are welcome to join us in the meeting,” Tupas said.
scrimgeour
Recent Comments