Former Interior Secretary Mar Roxas should participate in the Senate inquiry on the controversial purchase of the P1.89-billion Mahindra patrol vehicles of the Philippine National Police (PNP) deemed “disadvantageous” to the government, Senator Grace Poe said on Thursday.
But Poe was quick to deny that she was out to hunt Roxas, her rival in the 2016 Presidential Elections where they both lost to now President Rodrigo Duterte.
“This is a chance for him to explain himself. The bulk of the budget of the PNP comes from the DILG,” she said in an interview on ANC.
Poe recently filed Senate Resolution No. 777 urging the Senate blue ribbon and public order committees to probe the purchase of the patrol vehicles after the release of the Commission on Audit (COA) report that showed the purchase were riddled with irregularities.
READ: Poe files Senate resolution to probe ‘lemon’ Mahindra patrol cars
Liberal Party standard-bearer Roxas was the secretary of the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG), which supervises the PNP at the time of the procurement.
“Okay, on a personal level, Secretary Mar, we have no issue, maybe. But what I’m saying is this: Ewan ko kung minalas lang talaga siya na ‘yung mga komite ko (I’m not sure if it’s just bad luck on his part that my committees include) public order. DILG is under that because of the PNP,” she said.
The senator also stressed that it was Senator Richard Gordon, chairman of the blue ribbon committee, who will lead the probe.
“I have to sometimes be critical. Hindi dahil sa gumaganti ako sa kanila. Para ano? Para ma-proklama ako? Hindi na nga ako nanalo, talo na nga eh ‘di ba. So para saan (I am not out for revenge. What for? So I can get proclaimed? I didn’t win, I lost. So, what for)?” she said. /ee