Irregularity seen in 1-B PNP gun license card deal–Robredo

MANILA, Philippines–The leadership of the Philippine National Police believes there was irregularity in the firearm license card deal it struck with a firm in 2010 amounting to more than P1 billion over 15 years, Interior Secretary Jesse M. Robredo said.

“Somebody offered less expensive cards” than Nanjing Industrial Tools and Equipment Co., which won the contract for the printing of firearm license cards for police officers and security guards over a 15-year period, Robredo said. He did not elaborate.

“The PNP leadership also believes it is irregular … I gave them till June 15 to decide on it,” he said in a text message.

The deal was signed in March 2010 by the PNP under then Director General Jesus Verzosa and then Director for Logistics Luizo Ticman and Romeo Macapinlac, president of Nanjing.

Under the 15-year agreement, Nanjing was to supply license cards for the firearms of police officers and security guards for P150 each.

Based on the DILG legal office’s computation, Nanjing has been printing an average of 21,818 cards per month for the FED and 20,245 cards per month for the PNP’s Supervisory Office for Security Agencies, meaning the contract could be worth a staggering P1.1357 billion.

In November, during a Senate plenary budget hearing, Sen. Panfilo Lacson raised questions about the contract, such as why the P150 fee for the license cards was being paid directly to Nanjing without a standard government payment order.

After launching an investigation, Robredo unearthed other irregularities in the contract, such as the fact that it was undertaken without bidding.

“The PNP deal with Nanjing is not in accordance with procurement laws and the arrangement, as contained in the memorandum of agreement, was violated,” he said.

He also cited “ambiguous provisions” in the contract, such as one that authorized Nanjing to pull out all its materials and equipment in the event that the project was aborted or cancelled prior to its completion.

In response, the PNP Firearms and Explosives Division formed a technical working group (TWG) in January and sought the opinion of the PNP Legal Service and Directorate for Comptrollership to weigh in on the validity of the MOA.

But the police offices failed to resolve the matter immediately, prompting Robredo to set a deadline for the PNP to act on it by March 30, setting the stage for its findings that the contract might be irregular.