Congress wants to probe P1-B PNP gun license deal

Cagayan de Oro Rep. Rufus Rodriguez. Photo from congress.gov.ph/

Congress wants to take over the investigation of a P1.1 billion gun license contract which was awarded without public bidding by the Philippine National Police after the PNP leadership missed its March 30 deadline to finally decide on the case.

Cagayan de Oro Representative Rufus Rodriguez filed House Resolution 2459 directing the House committee on public order and safety to open an inquiry into the controversial 15-year license card contract entered into by the PNP with Nanjing Industrial Tools and Equipment Co.

As this developed, Interior Secretary Jesse Robredo gave the PNP a 15-day extension or up to June 15 to come out with a position on the allegedly irregular deal signed in March 2010 by then PNP Director General Jesus Verzosa, then director for logistics Luizo Ticman and the president of Nanjing, Romeo Macapinlac.

Rodriguez said he went ahead and filed the resolution after the investigative body created last year by PNP chief General Nicanor Bartolome to look into the deal failed to issue its findings last March 30.

“There is no resolution by the PNP and no fast action by the DILG and the Office of the President as well,” said Rodriguez.

The anomalous contract was unearthed during a Senate budget committee hearing in November last year when Senator Panfilo Lacson questioned why the P150 fee for the license cards for gun holders and security guards issued by the PNP’s Firearms and Explosives Division (FED) and Supervisory Office for Security Agencies was paid directly to Nanjing without a standard government payment order from the state-owned Land Bank.

Robredo himself has earlier said the  Nanjing contract was “not in accordance with procurement laws and the arrangement, as contained in the MOA (Memorandum of Agreement).”

“It appears that there was no competitive bidding conducted prior to the selection of Nanjing, including ambiguous provisions in the contract authorizing Nanjing to pull out all its materials and equipment in the event that the project was aborted or cancelled prior to its completion,” said Robredo.

Robredo, announcing on Tuesday the 15-day extension for the PNP’s Legal Service and Directorate for Comptrollership to weigh in on the validity of the gun ID contract, reiterated that the deal seemed to be irregular.