Chopper deal probe sought

MANILA, Philippines–Three former police generals are asking the House of Representatives to investigate the military’s graft-tainted purchase of 21 “obsolete and refurbished” helicopters worth P1.21 billion.

Representatives Romeo Acop of Antipolo City, Samuel Pagdilao Jr. of ACT-CIS party-list and Leopoldo Bataoil of Pangasinan filed House Resolution No. 1995, urging the House committee on national defense and security and the oversight committee on AFP modernization to investigate the contract to buy 21 UH-1 helicopters from Rice Aircraft Service Inc. and Eagle Copters Ltd.

Acop, Pagdilao and Bataoil said that Rice Aircraft and Eagle Copters delivered only 10 of the 21 choppers stipulated in the contract which ran from December 2013 to September 2014. Of the 10 helicopters received, only two were deemed acceptable by the Armed Forces of the Philippines because the rest of the units had defective engines and insufficient spare parts and accessories (one helicopter had no rotor blades).