‘The Raven Conspiracy’

Like the rotor blades that spin furiously round and round, the guilt and the blame in the scam involving the Philippine National Police’s controversial purchase of two used helicopters sold as brand-new oscillates around a lot of people. Lionair Inc. president Archibald Po is definite about the choppers’ dubious provenance, and Hilario de Vera of Manila Aerospace Products Trading Inc. (Maptra) has admitted to being aware that the choppers were second-hand when he brokered their sale to the PNP. And at the fulcrum of the controversy is former First Gentleman Mike Arroyo who, allegedly, was the real owner of the two second-hand helicopters, Robinson R-44 Raven Is, when they were sold to the PNP in 2009.

Surprisingly, not enough pressure seems to be felt inside the cockpit where the alleged deception was cooked up: the PNP itself.

The Raven Is were two of three helicopters the PNP bought for P105 million as part of its modernization. (A new Raven I only costs P20 million.)

During its hearings into the controversial sale, the Senate blue ribbon committee zeroed in on what appeared to be, at the very least, the PNP’s willful self-deception regarding the two Raven Is.

“From the very start there was really a deliberate effort to allow or enable the purchase by PNP of the Raven helicopters of Mike Arroyo,” said Sen. Franklin Drilon. The problem is that the PNP officials involved seems to have forgotten how all that happened. A PNP investigation has identified 23 of them, and the Senate blue ribbon committee has shown that there was already some collusion in the PNP from the very beginning of the purchase process, starting with the PNP Uniform and Equipment Standardization Board (UESB) which set the specifications for the chopper purchase.

A UESB resolution issued in February 2008 specified that the new light helicopters to be bought should have a minimum speed of 110 knots, a minimum range of 229 miles and a minimum height capability of 12,000 feet.

These original requirements put Maptra out of the bidding because the Ravens could not meet those technical specifications. The bidding had also attracted a company called Beeline, which was offering its own Enstrom helicopters. But in April, the UESB revised its specifications: the new choppers should have a speed of 100 knots, a higher range of 300 miles and 14,000 feet in height capability.

The new resolution effectively put Beeline out of the running as the Enstroms could not meet its requirements. Only the Raven Is, which Maptra was selling on behalf of Lionair, could fit the bill.

According to witnesses, the two helicopters were bought for his wife, then President Gloria Arroyo, for use in her campaign for the presidency in the 2004 elections. De Vera testified that Po kept dropping the name “FG” when Maptra was brokering the sale of the second-hand Raven Is, clearly applying pressure to force a sale while GMA was still in office.

“The specifications made in April, in effect, disqualified other helicopters so that only Raven I was admitted. The effort to tailor-fit the specifications to Raven I is very, very clear,” Drilon said. “In fact, the original specification would have disqualified Raven I but they (PNP officials) amended the specifications para swak na swak (so they would be a perfect fit).”

The two different UESB resolutions have the same signatories. The purchase contract with Maptra was signed in 2009.

PNP, together with auditors of the Commission on Audit, examined the aircraft. Nobody, not even the auditors, raised any red flags about the status of the Raven I choppers. Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile berated one auditor for saying he did not question the sale after he was told that the helicopters looked brand-new. Enrile described the fraudulent helicopter deal as a “conspiracy.”

Even as the PNP officers try to impress on the public mind that they are victims of a flawed procurement process, the Senate probe is right in putting pressure on the PNP to tell all: who within its ranks participated in or were aware of the spurious purchase and did not do anything about it? Who among them went along with this swindle?

The suspect PNP officers’ incredible and ridiculous “self-admission of ignorance” about the Raven fraud should be a cause of abject personal and professional shame to people who are basically equipped with investigation skills and primarily tasked to fight crimes.