THE Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) will be vigilant in reviewing the procurement system of the Philippine National Police (PNP) to prevent corruption, an official said on Wednesday.
“The DILG will never allow corruption in the PNP and takes seriously the internal-cleansing program,” DILG Undersecretary Jonathan Malaya said in a statement.
On Monday, President Rodrigo Duterte stripped the PNP of its procurement function and gave it to Interior Secretary Eduardo Año.
Duterte’s decision stemmed from reports of the PNP’s procurement of “overpriced” radar speed guns.
The PNP’s price is P950,000 per unit, which Duterte said could be bought for only P10, 000 per unit in Davao City.
Malaya said the DILG was studying how the President’s directive could be implemented.
“We will comply with the directive of the President and assure him that henceforth the DILG will closely review the procurement of the PNP,” Malaya said.
Brig. Gen. Bernard Banac, PNP spokesman, said during the meeting with the President, what was presented was not final as it was a “wishlist” and did not undergo the procurement process.
The PNP spokesman said what happened during the command conference was a “misunderstanding.”
“Hindi pa final ang proposal ‘yun lang at na-present nang maaga, hilaw pa presentation at sa pagmamadali, naipresent sa Pangulo (It was not final and it was a proposal and presented early, it was rushed because we wanted to present it to the President),” Banac said.
Banac said the PNP was surprised that the President approved its presentation immediately.
The DILG also believed that the blunder in the presentation was an honest mistake, Malaya said.
“The PNP unfortunately used a wrong term in their presentation to the President,” Malaya said.
PNP used the term “laser speed gun” although they were referring to the Micro Digital Photo or Video Laser Tech Speed System, Malaya said.
“It’s still in the pre-procurement stage and they were just asking clearance from the President,” he said.
The system, estimated at P1 million, is being used by advanced countries such as the United States and Israel.
“It can capture up to 15,000 images of moving vehicles and build a database,” Malaya said.
The equipment could curb overspeeding and drunk driving in highways and public roads, Malaya said.
Lt. Gen. Archie Francisco Gamboa, PNP officer in charge, submitted the explanation to the President.
Malaya said the PNP had a very good record of procurement for the last three years with “absorptive capacity of 98 percent.”
Gamboa said losing the procurement power would not be a problem for the PNP.
Gamboa said the PNP had been buying equipment early and out of 15 target procurements, only four big ticket items were being processed.
“Because it has been the practice of the PNP na maaga kami procure kaya lagi kaming nauuna so (It’s been a practice of the PNP to procure early) there’s no problem with regard to the big ticket items,” Gamboa told the reporters in a chance interview.
Gamboa also said he did not need to find out why the President changed his mind in approving the procurement.
“The President has already spoken so let’s leave it at that so we cannot. I don’t have also any intention of finding out why,” he said.
Last November, P3.9-billion new equipment, including five choppers, were acquired by the PNP.
Included also in the procurement were 51 drones and 7,924 combat enhanced helmets.
In August 2019, the PNP acquired new equipment and police cars worth P784 million and were distributed to the different line units and stations of the PNP.
