Roxas: Mahindra deal followed procedure

MANILA, Philippines — Former interior and local government secretary Manuel Roxas II expressed confidence yesterday that the procurement of P1.893 billion worth of Mahindra patrol vehicles followed proper procedure.

Roxas, however, said he could not comment on the procurement per se because it was done by the Philippine National Police (PNP) and the Procurement Service of the Department of Budget and Management (DBM).

“I am confident that the PNP and the PS-DBM followed proper procedure as that was the policy,” Roxas said in a text message to The STAR.

He said he has yet to see the report of the Commission on Audit, which pointed out many lapses in the procurement of vehicles for the PNP.

“I am unaware of this COA report. During my stint at DILG, I supported the PNP’s patrol jeep project because it was sorely lacking in transport and mobility capability,” Roxas said.

Roxas assured the public of his continuous support for the PNP, which is mandated to serve and protect the community, by providing the agency “with their equipment needs so they can perform the various tasks required of them.”

Earlier, the PNP washed its hands of the alleged anomalous procurement of police vehicles in 2015, saying the DBM was behind the processes.

PNP spokesman Senior Supt. Benigno Durana Jr. admitted there were “obvious lapses” in the procurement of Mahindra Enforcer and Mahindra Scorpio vehicles from Columbian Motors costing 1.893 billion in 2015.

“There is obvious set of lapses in the procurement and again we have to emphasize that the procurement of Mahindra from the bidding process to the procurement was not done by the PNP BAC (Bids and Awards Committee) but by the procurement service of the DBM. So it is beyond us,” Durana said at a press briefing at Camp Crame in Quezon City on Tuesday.

He said Columbian Autocar Corp., supplier of the vehicles, has been blacklisted from entering into any transaction with the PNP.?“The only thing that we contributed (was) to set the specification based on the operation needs assessment conducted earlier,” Durana said.