Use of P2.8B fund will be transparent–PNP

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MANILA, Philippines—The Philippine National Police (PNP) has pledged utmost transparency in its use of the P2.86-billion fund it received from the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) for the purchase of firearms and other essential equipment.

The DBM approved the disbursement amid a corruption scandal involving legislative funds in the billions of pesos and a rash of deadly bombings in Mindanao.

Senior Supt. Reuben Theodore Sindac, PNP public information office chief, said the allocation would help the 148,000-strong force improve its capability to overcome the threats to the country’s internal security.

“Our morale is higher. We are very happy for the full support of President Aquino,” Sindac told the Inquirer in a phone interview.

“This will improve our effectiveness and efficiency in performing our duties. It will go a long way to improving our service to the Filipino people,” he added.

Budget Secretary Florencio Abad has said P2.5 billion of the fund would be used to buy 13,597 long firearms, 4,997 mobile radios and 1,000 patrol vehicles.

He said P344 million would pay for minor repairs and the repainting of 810 of the most dilapidated police stations throughout the country and for ammunition and other supplies for PNP maneuver units.

The remainder, Abad said, would go toward enhancing the PNP’s firearms identification system to improve its investigative capabilities in firearms-related cases.

Sindac assured the public the PNP would comply with all laws and government policies on procurement.

He pointed to the PNP’s recent experience with the purchase of P1.2-billion worth of Glock 17 Generation 4 9mm pistols for its personnel, the “most transparent” procurement process it had conducted in years according to the force itself.

“You saw the procurement of the Glock pistols. That will be the basis… the way it was bid out and procured. That means that the problem (of graft and corruption) is now a thing of the past (in the PNP),” Sindac said.

It will be recalled, however, that former PNP Director General Nicanor Bartolome Jr. and 15 other senior police officials have been charged with violation of the antigraft law over supposed irregularities in the purchase of those Glock pistols.

The case, filed by some of the losing bidders, is pending in the Office of the Ombudsman.—Marlon Ramos