BFP’s excuse unacceptable

I read with interest the story titled “COA: Fire execs failed to buy equipment.”

(Inquirer, 1/6/12) I could not help but be suspicious of the reason(s) the Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP) gave to explain why it “failed to spend nearly P700 million in 2009 and 2010 to buy new gear that would have improved safety and the capabilities of firefighters.”

I believe the BFP gave a lame excuse in ascribing its failure to use the funds to “revisions in the technical specifications of the items.” Why? Because right after setting aside the purchase, the BFP recommended a “negotiated purchase as an alternative mode of procurement” and chose two firms as the favored suppliers.

It is providential that Interior Secretary Jesse Robredo disapproved the purchase order, thus foiling what otherwise could have turned out to be another scam similar to an earlier transaction in the BFP involving substandard fire hoses.

Last Dec. 12, 2011, the Taguig Fire Station conducted a fire drill at St. Luke’s Hospital Global City (SLHGC). The exercise ended up in tragedy. A fire hose in the drill broke loose from the coupling at minimum water pressure of only 120 psi, which is way below the maximum pressure of 400 psi, the BFP’s maximum specification standard for fire hoses.

Two people, a fireman and a hospital aide, who were in the drill, were seriously hurt due to the incident and the latter had to be rushed to SLHGC for treatment. Presumably the fire hose picked for the drill was one of those substandard hoses deliberately mixed by the supplier with the good ones. Because of this tragic incident, the drill was immediately canceled.

The significant questions to ask here are: What if substandard hoses would be used in a real fire operation? And why is it that despite the report of the Taguig Fire Station to the BFP no action or investigation has been done to find out if indeed there was an irregularity in the purchase of fire hoses?

An investigation of the incident by the Department of the Interior and Local Government is in order.

—CHANDO P. MORALLOS,

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