DoTC starts probe of P1.15B PCG deal

The Department of Transportation and Communications (DoTC) has launched a probe on the alleged anomalous procurement by Arroyo administration officials of P1.15 billion worth of equipment for the Philippine Coast Guard.

In a statement on Tuesday, Transportation Secretary Mar Roxas said a special task force would be formed, composed of officials from the Department of Justice, the National Bureau of Investigation and the Philippine National Police, to investigate the controversial 2005 transaction.

“We would like to know what really transpired before we joined the department, and find a concrete resolution to this recurring issue,” Roxas said.

The P1.15-billion deal was the subject of a recent Commission on Audit (CoA) report, particularly on how exactly the money supposedly for Marine Environment Protection Equipment (MEPE) and Aids to Navigation (Aton) spare parts for PCG lighthouses nationwide was used, under six corresponding Special Allotment Release Orders (SARO).

Roxas said he had ordered the creation of the task force, in coordination with fellow Cabinet officials, “to conduct a top-to-bottom probe and unearth whatever irregularities were committed during the past administration.”

“We were not here yet when the purchase of said equipment happened, hence we are trying to conduct our own internal investigation regarding the matter,” Roxas said.

“The results of this internal initiative will be used by the task force to distinguish what equipment had been acquired without the proper protocol, and were purchased in violation of the rules set by the budget department,” he said.

Out of the P1.15-billion procurement, P250 million was used to buy the lighthouse equipment. These devices included solar panels, solar and halogen bulbs, flasher-lamp changers, photo eyes and battery charger controllers for use in the PCG lighthouses all over the country. These were said to be purchased despite the absence of any request from the PCG.

“The DoTC is now working with PCG to conduct an inventory of the equipment and distribute them accordingly,” Roxas said.

Bayan Muna Representative Teodoro Casiño said former Secretary Leandro Mendoza, a former police chief and the DoTC head at the time the purchases were approved, could face plunder raps for the deal.

The PCG procurement deal is just the latest of a string of controversial contracts entered into by the DoTC under the leadership of Mendoza, a staunch ally of former President Arroyo.

The overpriced NorthRail contract, a Chinese government-funded project to build of a train line to link Metro Manila with provinces in Northern Luzon, was also approved under Mendoza’s term.

Another allegedly anomalous deal is the construction of 72 roll-on, roll-off ports across the country, funded by a concessional loan from the French government. President Aquino had said the port project would likely be canceled.