Political news , opinions and views for 2010 Presidential election

February 27, 2010

Villar vows to raise budget for AFP modernization

By Christina Mendez and Marvin Sy (The Philippine Star) 
http://www.philstar.com/Article.aspx?articleId=553336&publicationSubCategoryId=63

MANILA, Philippines - Nacionalista Party standard-bearer Sen. Manuel Villar vowed yesterday to use savings from a successful anti-corruption drive for modernizing the Armed Forces if he is elected, saying the current budget of P5 billion for the program is not enough.

Villar said that if the government manages to recover at least 10 percent of the P250 billion lost to corruption every year, the military would have enough funds to modernize.

The NP presidential candidate made the promise a day after his visit to detained Col. Ariel Querubin at the Intelligence Service of the Armed Forces of the Philippines in Camp Aguinaldo in Quezon City.

Querubin, a senatorial bet under the NP, has been under military custody since 2006 in connection with the Marine standoff at Fort Bonifacio on Feb. 26 in the same year.

Querubin and some junior Marine officers as well as the Magdalo Group led by detained Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV had denounced high-scale corruption in the AFP.

“If we can curb this purported corruption in the military by at least 50 percent, we can generate savings that could be channeled to the purchase of the basic needs of soldiers in the field like combat boots, combat rations and ammunition,” he said.

Villar said he was disturbed by allegations that a big chunk of the budget intended for the soldiers’ needs “goes to the pockets of some unscrupulous military officials.”

He also lamented reports of defective equipment and ammunitions supplied to foot soldiers in the field.

Villar said the current defense spending is only for “patching up the AFP’s antiquated land, air and water assets.”

He cited the ageing fleet of the Philippine Air Force whose aircraft have gained notoriety for being “flying coffins” and “widow makers.”

If elected, Villar said he would send to Congress a “meaty” AFP modernization fund “that will be promptly released and properly spent.”

“I am thinking of allocating 10 percent of the annual VAT (value added tax) revenue for a replacement program of military ships, aircraft and other hardware,” he said.

This, he said, translates to a minimum P15 billion “annual fund to replace flying and floating coffins with modern assets.”

“In addition, we can explore barter arrangements in which Philippine-made products can be exchanged for military hardware,” he said.

Villar stressed that the government should explore other sources of military hardware, “and not just look at that giant arms mall that is the United States.”

Villar said he believes rationalizing expenditures can help the AFP save and spend enough for modernization.

“I have been told that there are ways in which we can cut multibillion-peso annual POL (petroleum oil and lubricant) budget and send whatever is saved to the men in the field,” he said.

Exorbitant charges

Villar also defended himself from criticism that he was spending lavishly for advertising, saying it’s the radio and television stations that had been charging exorbitantly.

Their expenses are high because television stations charge high, Villar told reporters during the Katropa concert organized by his daughter Camille at the SM Mall of Asia in Pasay City Thursday night.

Critics and political foes said Villar’s ratings have improved due to his massive spending.

A recent report by the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism, citing data from media monitoring agency AGB Nielsen Media Research, revealed that the total advertising values for TV, radio, and print of just six of the 10 presidential candidates have already reached more than P2 billion.

The ads covered those shown from Nov. 1, 2009 to Jan. 31, 2010, before the campaign period officially kicked off on Feb. 9.

About half of that figure represents the ad buys of Villar, even though a presidential candidate’s maximum campaign expenditure is limited to only P500 million, or P10 per voter. A political party may, however, spend another P5 per voter, or P250 million.

Villar also said he felt hurt by the smear campaign against him but admitted two of his opponents “play like gentlemen” and deserve his respect. The two are administration candidate Gilbert Teodoro Jr. and evangelist Eddie Villanueva of Bangon Pilipinas.

“Among the players, I’m now perceived to be the biggest threat.”

No believer of destiny

In Lipa, Batangas, Villar declared he is no believer in destiny in his fight for the country’s highest position.

Villar said some of his opponents have come to believe that the presidency is their birthright.

Villar was reacting to a pronouncement by his closest rival, Liberal Party’s Sen. Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III, who told a huge crowd of supporters on Thursday that it is his destiny to bring victory to the people by winning in the May elections.

“They feel that it is their destiny, like it is their birthright. But I still believe that it should be the people who should decide this,” Villar said.

“It may be time for our people, especially the poor, to demand change and an end to this birthright, birthright thing,” he said.

“It is also time that a candidate from the ranks of the poor and not the hacienderos or son of a president is given the right to lead the country,” he added.

Villar said that ordinary people have to work hard to get ahead in life and not depend on destiny.

“We don’t believe in birthright or destiny, but only in hard work. The problem with some people is that they feel they are the only ones who have a right to lead our country and the poor have no right to this,” he said.

In the latest Pulse Asia survey, Villar secured 35 percent of the votes of the respondents next to Aquino’s 37 percent.

In December’s Social Weather Stations survey, Villar got only 20 percent as against Aquino’s 47 percent

6 comments:

  1. Bid Rigging in AFP Modernization Program

    Syndicated Estafa: Favored Supplier Bags AFP Contract Without Documents; Massive Irregularities In the Bidding Process And With Defective JVA

    FRAUD COMPLAINT: AN OPEN LETTER TO DND-BAC, AFP, COMMISSION ON AUDIT, BUREAU OF INTERNAL REVENUE AND THE OMBUDSMAN

    The Armed Forces of the Philippines Modernization Program (AFPMP)

    AFP-Wide Support and Separate Unit (AFPWSSU) Budget is P10.616-B in 15 years !

    Contract Ref. No. AFP Fixed Communication System (FCS) Project, Project Nr AFPMP-GHQ-09-001-04.


    DND BAC biased towards a supplier who did not participate the Stage 1 and 2 bidding process ended up as the winner bagging the AFP FCS project, the PhP 447,360,000.00 being the Approved Budget for the Contract.

    The AFP FCS bidding held between Y2005 and Y2006 is nothing but a hoax.

    Former Sec. Gilbert Teodoro, recently signed approved the awarding of the contract to a privately-owned Filipino corporation called Datatrail, a supplier highly regarded by the genuine bidders simply as an 'Order taker', bagging the project illegally. The DND-BAC in question were the appointees of former Defense Secretary Avelino Cruz Jr. between 2004 and 2006, concurrent with his term of office as DND Chief.

    Issues of favoratism were raised by the bidders against the DND BAC for the questionable awarding of contract to an 'Outsider' with defective JVA, supplier Datatrail (regarded as an outsider because Datatrail did not participate any of the bidding stages 1 & 2).

    The bidders and everyone in the room including the watchers all knew that Datatrail did not participate the bidding process Stage 1 and 2: Datatrail did not submit any Eligibility Documents, no original income tax stamped 'Received' by the BIR, etc. So, how could they win ?

    This is again, Datatrail's template in the works after their Bureau of Immigration ID Scam in 2005, leaving everyone in the dark.

    AGENCY INVOLVED : DND BAC 2005-2006
    DND - BAC CHAIRMAN USEC JOSE F SANTOS
    VICE CHAIRMAN VADM ARISTON V DELOS REYES AFP
    BAC MEMBERS USEC FRANCISCO F DEL ROSARIO, ASEC JOSE N FERRER & ASEC OTHELO C CARAG
    .

    ReplyDelete
  2. Bid Rigging in AFP Modernization Program

    Syndicated Estafa: Favored Supplier Bags AFP Contract Without Documents; Massive Irregularities In the Bidding Process And With Defective JVA

    FRAUD COMPLAINT: AN OPEN LETTER TO DND-BAC, AFP, COMMISSION ON AUDIT, BUREAU OF INTERNAL REVENUE AND THE OMBUDSMAN

    The Armed Forces of the Philippines Modernization Program (AFPMP)

    AFP-Wide Support and Separate Unit (AFPWSSU) Budget is P10.616-B in 15 years !

    Contract Ref. No. AFP Fixed Communication System (FCS) Project, Project Nr AFPMP-GHQ-09-001-04.


    DND BAC biased towards a supplier who did not participate the Stage 1 and 2 bidding process ended up as the winner bagging the AFP FCS project, the PhP 447,360,000.00 being the Approved Budget for the Contract.

    The AFP FCS bidding held between Y2005 and Y2006 is nothing but a hoax.

    Former Sec. Gilbert Teodoro, recently signed approved the awarding of the contract to a privately-owned Filipino corporation called Datatrail, a supplier highly regarded by the genuine bidders simply as an 'Order taker', bagging the project illegally. The DND-BAC in question were the appointees of former Defense Secretary Avelino Cruz Jr. between 2004 and 2006, concurrent with his term of office as DND Chief.

    Issues of favoratism were raised by the bidders against the DND BAC for the questionable awarding of contract to an 'Outsider' with defective JVA, supplier Datatrail (regarded as an outsider because Datatrail did not participate any of the bidding stages 1 & 2).

    The bidders and everyone in the room including the watchers all knew that Datatrail did not participate the bidding process Stage 1 and 2: Datatrail did not submit any Eligibility Documents, no original income tax stamped 'Received' by the BIR, etc. So, how could they win ?

    This is again, Datatrail's template in the works after their Bureau of Immigration ID Scam in 2005, leaving everyone in the dark.

    AGENCY INVOLVED : DND BAC 2005-2006
    DND - BAC CHAIRMAN USEC JOSE F SANTOS
    VICE CHAIRMAN VADM ARISTON V DELOS REYES AFP
    BAC MEMBERS USEC FRANCISCO F DEL ROSARIO, ASEC JOSE N FERRER & ASEC OTHELO C CARAG

    The former DND BAC (2005-2006) have a lot explaining to do when they hastily awarded the contract to a supplier, Datatrail without the submission of Class 'A' Legal Documents vital to ensure a 'fair playing field.' The bidders wanted to see the papers of Datatrail if they were indeed eligible to bid in Y2005.

    The only thing that Datatrail presented to the DND BAC (after all the four biddders were shortlisted- Alcatel, Ceragon, Nera and Lucent rated 'Passed' the Stage 1 and Stage 2 bidding process), was a single piece of paper. It stated after the bidding stages 1 and 2, that supplier Datatrail was actually in Joint Venture Agreement with Ceragon.
    .

    ReplyDelete
  3. Who is this Anonymous ? He morphs into many different names, in other blog sites related to President Noy and Mar Roxas, posting the same malicious account regarding the bid process of the AFP-FCS.
    I am a person who is very familiar with events and circumstances surrounding the conduct of the bid and the award of the contract as my company initially participated in the bid process for the AFP FCS. There were however, failure of bids along the way, and my company decided to no longer participate in the succeeding bid attempts.
    However, we followed the events and circumstances with great interest as our product line is indispensable to the implementation of the AFP FCS and the winning bidder, whoever, it may eventually be, will have to purchase some of the equipment from us.
    As it turned out, several of the bidders did in fact reflected some items in our product portfolio, in the bid documents that they submitted.

    But what are the real facts about the AFP-FCS?
    The names that were mentioned, USEC JOSE F SANTOS, VADM ARISTON V DELOS REYES, USEC FRANCISCO F DEL ROSARIO, ASEC JOSE N FERRER & ASEC OTHELO C. CARAG, were men of integrity and probity.
    They were, during their respective tenure of services at the government and the private sector, highly regarded and well spoken of.
    As a result, the bid was awarded at a price of P388 Million. This bid is lower by P60 Million Pesos compared to the Approved Budget for the Contract (ABC).
    Likewise, the contract awarded to the winning bidder was P42 Million lower than the next lowest bid.
    This Anonymous Sender is probably sourgraping because had their malevolent plans not been thwarted by the transparency of the bidding for the AFP-FCS, the winning bid would have been awarded at a price that is a few thousand pesos lower than the Approved Budget for the Contract (ABC) for the AFP-FCS.
    A review of all the contracts awarded at the AFP, since time immemorial, had always hovered at only a few thousand pesos below the Approved Budget for the Contract (ABC).
    This was changed during the time of Secretary Avelino Cruz, and trailblazed and punctuated by the bidding process for the AFP-FCS, where the contract was awarded at a bid lower by P60 Million compared to the ABC.

    ReplyDelete
  4. It is truly unfair for this ‘Anonymous’ to besmirch their good names while hiding behind the unaccountability and anonymity of bloodspots and internet sites.
    This ‘Anonymous’ may actually be a low level employee of a losing bidder, judging by the bevy of faulty syntax and grammar in his account, or is in fact a high level executive of a losing bidder who is hiding behind a cloak of flawed grammar, and who probably lost his job as a result of the extravagant expense account that he racked up in the years previous to the bidding of the AFP-FCS, and whose ‘old boy’s club’ was side swiped by the reforms instituted by Sec Avelino Cruz and Secretary Gilberto C. Teodoro at the DND in the aftermath of the massive graft perpetuated by the former AFP Comptroller, Major General Carlos F. Garcia.
    Every meeting of the AFP-FCS BAC Committee were attended by representatives/observers from the COA, DBM, NEDA, BSP, PCCI, the Makati Business Club, Philippine Bar Association, and other
    interested organizations.
    Our lasting impression, as participants and bidders in these meetings, is that the AFP-FCS BAC during the time of Sec Avelino Cruz, trailblazed a then unheard of policy of transparency at the AFP. This was continued during the term of Sec Gilbert Teodoro as DND secretary.
    The account being foisted by this ‘Anonymous’ is downright libelous.
    He must present himself in the proper legal forum, with a sworn statement and complaint, to enable the parties whose reputations he maligns in internet forums such as this, to file the appropriate charges against him.
    In retrospection, can we believe that the representatives of COA, DBM, NEDA, BSP, PCCI, the Makati Business Club, Philippine Bar Association, and other
    interested organizations who have been invited, and were present, during ALL the AFP-FCS BAC meetings, opted to remain silent while the bidding for the AFP-FCS is being railroaded in favor of a particular bidder?
    In hindsight, can we really believe that the representatives of LUCENT, ALCATEL, and NERA, sat meekly and idly by while their years of preparation for the bidding of AFP-FCS is unjustly taken away by the AFP-FCS BAC?
    In retrospection, can we believe that the representatives of LUCENT, ALCATEL, and NERA, meekly accepted illegal decisions of the AFP-FCS?
    In fairness to all parties concerned, winning and losing bidders alike, and to the names that are being maliciously maligned by this ‘anonymous’ some relevant factual and historical highlights are presented hereunder:

    ReplyDelete
  5. You are again misleading the Public and the Philippine Government. Since your Company DATATRAIL CORPORATION did not participate the 1ST STAGE Bidding, the ELIGIBILITY STAGE, your best CHANCE to present your legal documents to become eligible to Bid so we could recognize you as ONE OF THE QUALIFIED BIDDERS, you just refused and still CONTINUE TO REFUSE to present your Eligibility Documents. Niligaw po ninyo yung mga Signatories na binanggit ninyo. Also, please follow the rule of law the latest RA 9184 and IRR on JVA published early 2005. Since you DID NOT participate the 1ST STAGE BIDDING which is the MOST IMPORTANT STAGE BECAUSE IT IS THERE WHERE WE CAN SEE IF YOUR COMPANY, DATATRAIL CORPORATION IS PAYING THE RIGHT TAXES and TO SEE YOUR QUALIFICATION HISTORY, wala po kayong pinakitang kahit anong documents. Again, Datatrail Corporation DID NOT participate the 1ST STAGE Bidding. This is highly illegal and criminal offense on your part as a Contractor, obviously THIS BIDDING AND AWARDING OF CONTRACT WAS TAINTED WITH GRAFT AND CORRUPTION.

    And So, the public may know !

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  6. AFP SCAMS: SWINDLERS, PLUNDERERS AND TAX EVADERS In the AFP Modernization Program

    The Project/s: AFP CAPABILITY UPGRADE PROGRAM (CUP) Communications Equipment Offered by Israel - The Armed Forces of the Philippines Fixed Communications System

    Request for Investigation / Report on AFP Anomalies: This is NOT part of the so-called Midnight Deal, but should be included in the AFP DND investigation because this is now "due for payment to suppliers." During the Arroyo administration, the "civilians" were appointed in AFP DND to handle the procurement. Unfortunately, these "civilians" who were expected to exercise "a level playing field" were the ones caught in the act violating the RA 9184 and IRR; they were even the Number One violators of their so-caled "follow the rule of law"; such massive irregularities in the bidding process grossly disadvantageous to the Philippine Government. PLEASE SCRUTINIZE THEIR DOCUMENTS AND YOU WILL FIND THAT THE WINNERS HAVE COMMITTED FRAUD AND PROVIDED MISLEADING INFORMATIONS. DND BAC proclaimed a Winner by Fraud (DID NOT participate the bidding !).

    A Fraudulent Joint-Venture Agreement "JVA" FIASCO !

    Disguising corruption: The suppliers/agents/lobbyists, and other third-party representatives designed a SHAM joint venture with an Israel vendor shortly after the entire bidding was carried out (one partner of the JV, DID NOT even participate the bidding process) and the agents are then seen using PLM foundations to disguise the sources of illegally obtained funds and to hide bribery and unexplained bank deposits to pay bribes and evade taxes; to hide off-the-book accounts and other accounting irregularities; the PLM foundations as repositories of the ill-gotten wealth.





    DEAR PRESIDENT NOYNOY AQUINO

    You said in your well-applauded inaugural address on June 30 "We will fight corruption (also, in AFP, you will scrutinize the controverial biddings in the AFP Modernization Program undertaken by DND BAC, review the Conduct of Bidding Process, Notice of Awards and Contracts)," and said so that we, the Filipino people, can bring our concerns to you directly because, borrowing your own words, we are "your boss." May we report to you the current Issues the MASSIVE BIDDING & AWARDING IRREGULARITIES in the utilization of the AFP Funds- the AFP Modernization Program Fixed Communication System Projects which is now DUE FOR PAYMENT TO THE SUPPLIERS: The DND BAC awarded the contract to suppliers with a "defective" JVA (Joint Venture Agreement). Defective because aside from the fact that Datatrail Corporation did not participate the bidding and no eligibility documents, there are traces of influence peddlings, treacherous collusion among suppliers and obvious railroading of the AFP projects to favored suppliers under this defective fraudulent JVA.

    ReplyDelete