The Armed Forces of the Philippines should be careful not to become party to midnight deals that are being cooked up by the Defense Department in its rush to close contracts before the Arroyo Administration ends its term in June 30 of this year.
The military should keep in mind that any controversy or flaw in these deals will greatly affect the long-delayed AFP Modernization Program and further set back the military’s strategic and tactical targets in the performance of their duty.
It has been publicly stated by Secretary Norberto Gonzales that it is his desire to rush the AFP Modernization Program by entering into contracts before the end of President Arroyo’s term using the Multi-Year Obligational Authority (MYOA) granted by Congress under the 2010 General Appropriations Act.
This rush is widely believed to be supplier-driven with Secretary Gonzales admitting that he has already received offers from four governments, namely, Canada, Israel, France and South Korea. For example, military sources reveal that Sec. Gonzales is favorably considering the acquisition of Cobra attack helicopters from Israel, even though they are just refurbished and are single-engine aircraft even though the Philippine Air Force prefer twin-engined helicopters.
But as the end-users, the AFP has a vital role to play in ensuring that the Modernization Program will not fall victim to shady midnight deals . The military should not subscribe to the rush being espoused by Sec. Gonzales who was quoted as saying, “Yes, we are rushing what we can still do under the AFP modernization program in our very limited time left. Aren’t we Filipinos known to be good in the last two minutes?”
The MYOA granted by Congress will expire on December 31, 2010, or six months beyond the term of President Arroyo. The next administration, which will serve from June 30, 2010 to June 30, 2016, is in the best position to utilize the MYOA and proceed with the AFP Modernization Program without the need to rush into midnight deals.
The AFP itself should not give in to the desire of the Defense Secretary who will be out of office in several weeks to rush the military contracts . It would be to the best interest of the Armed Forces to proceed with the Modernization Program under a new administration. The Multi-Year Obligational Authority is a golden opportunity for the AFP to achieve honest to goodness modernization. As the principal sponsor of the DND Budget for 2010 and one of the sponsors of the MYOA, I do not want to see this opportunity squandered by the rush to deliver the goods before the administration steps down just so that it could be written down as one of its major accomplishments.
Aside from waiting for the new administration, it will also do well to wait for the 15th Congress to assume office, since the AFP Modernization Law requires the DND/AFP to submit the contracts to Congress for scrutiny before the appropriation of funds. The current 14th Congress will not have time to scrutinize and appropriate funds for any midnight deal that the SND will enter into at this time.
There simply is no need and urgency to rush these military contracts before the expiration of President Arroyo’s term. It will only serve the desire of this administration to have something to brag about as it steps down, although it would be to the detriment of the AFP’s and the country’s interests. This is one instance when it will be good for the military to delay action on the wish of the outgoing administration.
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ATTENTION MANILA MAYOR ALFREDO LIM
One of your Manila Board of Regents, Mr. Jesus B. Trinos Jr., was alleged involved in a Fraud Complaint in a multibillion peso anomalous deals, the AFP Modernization Program Fixed Communications System Projects SCAM as supplier for Datatrail Corp., Ceragon Networks Israel and Alcatel.
We need your help in the speedy investigation the one-million-peso-company Datatrail Corp. grossly defrauded the Philippine government, illegally bagging the Contracts in AFP without the required eligibility documents and refused to participate the bidding stages, this PhP 55,000 taxpaying company getting the multi-billion projects in AFP by fraud and influence peddling.
We know you as Mr. Clean honest disciplinarian and well known as criminal fraud buster, you hate Cheaters (ayaw po ninyo sa mga sinungaling, mapaglinlang, manlalamang, magnanakaw at mandaraya) especially when they are taking advantage of your good image; even using you and your good name by photo ops. We just saw you recently with Mr. Trinos and Ms. Gemma Cruz-Araneta at PLM during the ceremony welcoming the two new Regents. This is quite disturbing knowing that your good reputation will be at stake here gladly endorsing Mr. Trinos as Manila Regent. Mr. Jesus Trinos is currently involved in various fraudulent illegal activities highly anomalous deals controversial biddings especially in government deals that are tainted with corruption issues, influence peddling, grave collusion and conspiracy among suppliers, the AFP and the DND.
Jesus Trinos Jr. PLMAAI President (representative for Ceragon Networks Israel, Datatrail Corp. and Alcatel) and Hermie Orbe PLM Foundation President (representative for Alcatel) are both MAJOR PLAYERS actively participating in the highly anomalous controversial AFP deals and they are on the way to transfer the AFP Modernization Program Funds thru PLM Foundations in which they elected themselves as officers to control the bank accounts. These suppliers bagged Contracts the AFP Modernization Program Funds illegally, by massive fraud, collusion and these conspiring vendors have entered into JVA (c/o Ceragon Networks Israel and Datatrail Corp.) without Income Tax Stamped Receipt from BIR (EFS), etc. grossly violated the RA 9184 and IRR. Like the Film Scam in 1994 (where the late Ms. Viveka Babaje the Miss Mauritius 1994, she announced the Winners by Fraud; likewise here, the suppliers in conspiracy with the AFP and the DND BAC 2005-2006 they announced the Winner thru a mere JVA declaration they exacted 'switching of ballots/Winners' i.e., thru a JVA, AN INSTANT Winner was declared by DND, Winner without eligibility documents ! )
This is a national interest and your local government interest as well especially that on of your Regents was deeply involvedin these illegal acts and fraudulent transactions, the AFP DND highly controversial anomalous deals. PLEASE HELP ! Thank you.
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