DND to probe helicopter deal

MANILA, Philippines—The Department of National Defense (DND) will create an investigating committee to look into allegations the helicopters it purchased in a P1.2-billion deal were defective.

“The secretary of national defense does not tolerate the alleged report of those anomalies and ill activities. We have been transparent in all bids and awards committee activities and in the spirit of transparency, has given guidance for the conduct of press conferences to clarify said issues. As such, upon the instruction of the secretary, the DND has further created an investigating committee to look into the matter,” defense spokesperson Peter Paul Galvez told reporters on Thursday.

A newspaper report early this week said the P1.2 billion worth of 21 UH-1D choppers were defective and violated the terms of agreement. It said that UH-1D choppers were purchased instead of UH-1H choppers. American firm Rice Aircraft Services Inc. and Canadian company Eagle Copters Ltd., a joint venture, won the contract in December 2013.

The DND, for their part, said the original contract was for UH-1 and not specifically for UH-1H.

The report also claimed that the spare parts for the purchased choppers were already obsolete.

“We would like to get to the bottom of it. Saan ba nagsisimula yung mga ganyang klaseng kwento? What we want to show the public is we only accept products that meet the specifications set by the technical working group,” Galvez said.

READ: DND defends P1.2 billion chopper deal

The committee will be headed by Undersecretary Pio Lorenzo Batino and they will given 90 days to do a report.

Meanwhile, the Rice Aircraft Services, in a statement by the joint venture representative Robert Arthur Rice Jr., denied the allegations in the recent report.

“To set the record straight, the contract for this project seeks the supply and delivery of UH-1 helicopters. The UH-1D helicopters being supplied by the joint venture meet the terms of reference for the UH-1 helicopter procurement, and each helicopter was fully refurbished and underwent comprehensive ground and flight testing at the joint venture’s facility in California, USA, prior to being disassembled for containerized shipping to the Philippines,” the statement said.

“Again, there is no truth that UH-1Ds or parts thereof are obsolete. In fact, the UH-1H model is older than the UH-1D built by Dornier.  Since the UH-1D is interchangeable with UH-1H parts, there is no lacking of spare parts for the UH-1D.”

Three public biddings were held for the acquisition of Hueys but failed due to failure to meet some requirements. The DND then negotiated a contract with Rice Aircraft.

Section 53 of the implementing rules of the procurement law allows a negotiated contract where there are failed public biddings.

Maj. Aristides Galang, operations officer of the 210th Tactical Squadron and test pilot of the involved in the acceptance of the UH-1Ds, said he had not encountered problems during test flights of the aircraft.

He also said the UH-1Ds had better lifting capability than the Air Force’s operational UH-1H.