The sale of two used helicopters that were passed off as brand-new to the Philippine National Police in 2009 for a staggering sum of P105 million reminds me of notorious con men who fool people through their slick personality and glib tongues.
The word con man is derived from the word, “confidence game,” or its abbreviated form, con game, which is another word for swindling. In it, the victim entrusts his money or valuables to the swindler or conman.
Stories of swindling by con artists who sold the Eiffel Tower, the Brooklyn Bridge and the Statue of Liberty are tales of man’s desire to get plenty out of nothing. The conman’s skill is just one component because in reality, man’s appetite to amass lots of money out of so little is the key to the con game.
And so with each swindling story, we are cautioned that when the deal is too good to be true, that is, when the return on investments look incredible, look again because it could be a rip off. Apparently, the injunction, which is bolstered by anguished victims of get-rich schemes, does not move some people.
In the late ‘40s, Charles Ponzi promised a 50 percent profit to hundreds who parted with their hard-earned savings to the get rich scheme.
Fast forward to the present: The story of the crash of the United States’ financial market four years ago would not be complete without mentioning Bernard Madoff’s stock market malpractices. Madoff, a top official of the Nasdaq securities trading, admitted having engaged in fraudulent investment methods wherein he netted $65 billion from retirees, housewives, even bankers, in a span of 15 years.
The Legacy Group of Rural Banks owned by Celso de los Angeles, a businessman from Iloilo who sweet talked investors into parting with their hard-earned money estimated at P2.5 billion is a similar sad tale.
We are also told that when a proposal smells fishy, our best shot would be to call the police.
But what if the police is in the middle of the con game and unmindful of the deception?
This is the impression that comes out of the scandal involving the sale of two pre-owned Raven II helicopters to the PNP by Manila Aerospace Products Trading Corp. (Maptra) in its capacity as broker for Lionair Inc. On paper, Lionair is the owner and seller of the questionable choppers but the company’s helmsman, Archibald Po, is pointing to former First Gentleman Miguel “Mike” Arroyo as the owner of the Raven II helicopters.
A well-connected businessman, Mr. Po told a Senate committee hearing this week that in 2003, Lionair purchased five helicopters, costing P1.423 million for Mr. Arroyo. At that time, Gloria Arroyo was bent on running for President and her Team Unity ticket needed the choppers for the campaign.
According to Po, he was able to secure five helicopters and delivered the items for FG. The buy-and-sell transactions were covered by blank deeds of sale, which are all in the possession of Mr. Arroyo.
The business deal would have passed as another normal transaction except that in 2009, the PNP announced it was accepting bids for six brand-new helicopters. Around this time, Mr. Po claims to have been pressured by Mr. Arroyo into selling the helicopters. With the PNP announcement, Mr. Po engaged Hilario de Vera, president of Maptra, to take the lead role in the transaction.
In June 15, 2009, Maptra submitted a proposal to sell one brand new R-44 police helicopters and two pre-owned standard helicopters.
De Vera was uneasy because the PNP specifically wanted three brand new choppers and here was Lionair selling only one firsthand and two pre-owned helicopters. In effect, de Vera was thinking Po was trying to con the PNP, but Po allegedly told his broker that if he wants the deal to push through, he should stop asking questions because the proposal to sell one firsthand and two pre-owned police helicopters was being pushed by FG himself.
True or not, the purchase of the helicopters by the PNP went effortlessly. The status of the two pre-owned aircrafts were known to the PNP hierarchy because police officials inspected the equipment in a hangar in Pasay City and found it to be old units.
De Vera and his cohort Po made P3.5 million each from the deal, and in his affidavit, the latter declared that the proceeds of $700,000 from the sale were delivered to Mr. Arroyo in his Makati law office.
PNP officials are tight-lipped about the controversy but one thing is sure, the institution was not conned when it bought the two pre-owned helicopters. In fact, because the PNP accepted and paid for the two used helicopters even if it expressly ordered brand new police helicopters, it does appear the institution was willing to be conned.