Pal of Reyes in graft raps

A supplier of spare parts of "Scorpion tanks" of the Armed forces of the Philippines (AFP) filed yesterday graft charges against a close friend of National Defense Secretary Angelo Reyes.

Named as Reyes’ co-accused in the graft case or violation of Section 3, paragraphs e, f, h, j and Section 4 paragraph b of Republic Act 3019 filed by Rosario Ong was Carlos Ui, of Zyrmax, of Suite 507 Pacific Center Building, Pasig City.

In a 12-page complaint, Ong, president of Bairam Enterprises, Inc. (BAIRAM), said that Ui was the one who induced Reyes to stop the implementation of the Supply Support Agreement (SSA) involving a total of P201,440,262.

The agreement gave her company the exclusive right to supply spare parts for the maintenance and repair of the Philippine Army’s 25-year-old Common Vehicle Reconnaisance (Tracked) CVR, commonly called "Scorpion tanks."

The AFP had acquired the Scorpion tanks from the Alvis Logistics Limited of the United Kingdom, the principal of Ong’s company.

The AFP and BAIRAM entered into a SSA in 1998 for the supply of spare parts, tools and equipment for the repair of 13 units of Scorpion tanks and the maintenance of 17 other units of the tanks.

"These tanks are specially designed and is capable of penetrating all kinds of terrain which the AFP intend to use in the pursuit against the Muslim bandits Abu Sayyaf Group," Ong said.

Ong said that the first batch of the tanks’ spare parts arrived at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA), with the AFP as the consignee, on Feb. 6, 2002.

However, this has remained in the warehouse of the NAIA and has not been claimed by the AFP.

Ong said that without informing them, Reyes hold in abeyance the implementation of the SSA simply based on the "unsupported and baseless" claim of Ui that the spare parts are overpriced.