I think President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo is really thinking of running for representative of her district in Pampanga now occupied by her eldest son Mikey. Without a seat in the House, her next stop would be jail, the crime of plunder being non-bailable. But as Bayan Muna party-list Rep. Satur Ocampo said, “a seat in Congress, even if she were elected Speaker, does not give GMA immunity from criminal suits.”
That is correct, but as a member of Congress, she cannot be arrested while Congress is in session. Once Congress adjourns, however, she can be arrested. What she can then do is go abroad before Congress adjourns and then come back when Congress is already in session.
Ms Arroyo knows that once she is no longer President, she would be inundated with criminal cases, considering her many sins against the people. So she is forced to act the way she is behaving because she is preparing for a bleak future. In the words of the Tagalogs: “kapit sa patalim,” a reference to a person forced to cling to a sharp weapon to save himself from falling to his death.
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Five more Marines were killed and 11 others wounded the other day by Abu Sayyaf extremists outside Parang, Jolo island. Last Thursday, two other Marines were killed by the Abu Sayyaf in nearby Indanan. And yet the Department of National Defense (DND) disputed an item in this column last Friday that Filipino soldiers were dying in Mindanao because of lack of ammunition. Defense Secretary Gilbert Teodoro, that column said, had refused to award a contract for the supply of ammunition to a winning bidder despite a favorable recommendation by the DND bids and awards committee, because he allegedly favors a losing bidder, according to court records.
Teodoro, who has declared that he is running for president of the Philippines next year, instead declared a failure of bidding and ordered a re-bidding for the supply of ammunition.
The winning bidder filed a case in court and won a temporary restraining order against the DND. That means the supply of ammunition would be delayed further as court cases in this country take many months and even years because of the extremely slow wheels of justice. How many more of our soldiers will die before the needed ammunition reinforcements arrive? the column asked.
The DND replied with a letter disputing the column. In the interest of fairness, we are publishing that letter:
Teodoro, the letter said, declared a failure of bidding because the DND BAC failed to strictly comply with the prescribed bidding procedures.
Teodoro declared the failure “in compliance to Republic Act 9184 and its implementing rules and regulations (IRR),” the letter said. “The said law and IRR prescribes a specific set of procedures to be followed by any bids and awards committee in the conduct of the bidding. The DND BAC failed to strictly follow this prescribed set of procedures forcing the SND [Teodoro] to declare a failure of bidding in compliance to the law. Talon Security Consulting and Trade Ltd., who is supposedly the only qualified bidder, has been found to have submitted false documentation which the BAC apparently overlooked and which [Teodoro] rectified after completed staff work and recommendation by the undersecretaries concerned. Awarding the contract to Talon notwithstanding the flaw will result in undue favor to Talon. And SND is not a rubber stamp to approve whatever BAC recommends as the same is subject to factual and legal scrutiny by SND’s staff.”
The letter also said that there is a sufficient supply of ammunition in the front lines.
“According to Maj. Gen. Daniel Casabar (Deputy Chief of Staff for Logistics): ‘Our soldiers at the front lines have sufficient ammunition. There is enough ammunition stocks to support AFP operations. With the continued acquisition of the same types of ammunition in the past months, our soldiers at the front lines are equipped with the necessary ammunition they need. This specific procurement is intended to improve the inventory of depot levels and for reserve.’”
Teodoro directed the DND BAC to conduct an immediate re-bid so that the level of ammunition reserves can be improved, the letter continued.
The case filed by Talon with the Quezon City RTC and “the TRO that has been issued will only delay the re-bid and the whole procurement process. It is Talon that is delaying the procurement.
“If Talon is indeed confident of the quality and price of their products, then they wouldn’t have to worry about a re-bid. But their continuing effort to prevent a re-bid will only cause more delays in the procurement of said ammunition.”
The letter continued: “The approved budget for the contract for 40,720 rounds of 60mm mortar ammunition is P264,680,000; whereas for 33,410 rounds of 81mm mortar ammunition the approved budget is P240,552,000. For both bids, Talon submitted a bid exactly the amount of the budgets, no centavo less. The statement thus that Talon’s bid is the lowest is misleading.”
The letter also made this cold-blooded conclusion: “Soldiers die in the field because they are in conflict areas.
“It is therefore unfair to say that our soldiers are dying because they have no ammunition or the enemy is better equipped. Our soldiers die because of the conflict. And this will stop only if the conflict is ended.”
Talon is not an ammunition manufacturer, the letter added. “It is an ammunition trader based in Israel that sources its products from various manufacturers worldwide.”
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TODAY’S JOKE: If the congressmen want the people to vote for the amended Constitution that their Con-ass will produce, this provision should be included: “Politicians should serve two terms, one in office and the other one in jail.”
