JESUS WAS SACKED, THE INSIDE STORY
MANILA, JUNE 21, 2011 (ELLEN
TORDESILLAS BLOG) Breaking news: President Aquino announced
appointment of his former running mate Mar Roxas as new DOTC secretary. He will
also hold the position of senior adviser of the Economic Cluster.
Another side to the controversy that speaks a lot of the goings-on in the
Aquino administration:
His resignation is an unfolding mystery By Dr. Dante A. Ang -
Manila Times
The Manila Times story on the forced resignation of DOTC Secretary
Jose "Ping" de Jesus was (photo) as clear as the sky on a fine day. De
Jesus did not resign from the Cabinet. He was fired by President Benigno Aquino
3rd for loss of confidence, to say the least.
De Jesus was summoned to Malacañang on Monday morning at ten by the
President. The meeting was brief; merely 15 minutes. He was distressed and
looked teary-eyed after his meeting with the Chief Executive.
I do not know de Jesus personally. Never met him before. Fact is, he strikes
me as a no-nonsense former Lopez executive. I have absolutely no reason to write
ill of the man who, if you believe his spin doctors, resigned out of frustration
for not getting the support from the President for the agency's various projects
and over the Virgie Torres issue.
I have it on good authority that several questionable, if not dubious
decisions by the DOTC have conspired together that led to the sacking of de
Jesus by the President. Chief among them were the Radar Control System, MRT
maintenance and privatization, Stradcom's interconnectivity agreement with LTO
and its P1.2-billion claim against the government.
In fairness to the President, he tried to put a lid on the "firing" of de
Jesus perhaps out of respect for the man who had served his mother, the late
President Corazon Aquino. The Press Office wanted to announce the resignation
that very Monday but PNoy gave specific orders to "hold the announcement." He
must have wanted to give de Jesus a graceful exit.
Before the announcement could be made on Tuesday, de Jesus asked the Press
Office to hold it for another day. De Jesus' resignation was leaked to the media
on Wednesday but was denied by the Secretary. The denial was published Thursday
in the Star.
And so it came to pass that it was a DOTC Undersecretary who made the
announcement of de Jesus' departure from the Cabinet effective end of the month.
Prior to the meeting of the President with de Jesus on Monday, PNoy
reportedly made a long distance call to a member of his family who was in Paris
at the time to break the news of his decision to let go of the DOTC Secretary.
"Ping has to go" the President reportedly said over the phone.
Prior to the long distance call, de Jesus had no inkling that all the while
the President had been gathering information from independent sources about the
contracts entered into by the previous administration. It was during these
consultations that PNoy came across the questionable transactions in the DOTC.
Immediately after getting the data from his sources, the President
crosschecked and validated the information with an expert who confirmed the
attendant anomalies involving the radar project. A series of consultations
occurred with the resource person. An "aide memoir" was finally sent to the
President for his study.
The P 7.3-billion radar project was awarded to Sumitomo-Thales consortium
during the Arroyo administration. It was perfected during the early months of
the Aquino administration. The first phase was for P 4.8 billion, the second, P
2.5 billion.
The bidding process was flawed. The award to Sumitomo-Thales was illegal
according to the Commission on Audit. It objected to the award, noting that some
years ago, when the Japanese-Australian consortium was still called CSF Thompson
it abandoned a project, "Global Maritime Distress Signal System (GMDSS)." COA
also slammed DOTC in a memorandum sent to the agency's officials for "not
disqualifying spurious bidders."
In short, the bidding was rigged to favor Sumitomo-Thales. Despite the COA
findings, de Jesus authorized the release of P58 million to the consortium
representing 15 percent as mobilization fee. The P58-million mobilization fee
was subsequently disallowed by COA.
Another contentious issue that unsettled the President was the privatization
of the MRT. PNoy and de Jesus have been at loggerheads over the details of the
privatization. As opposed to the position of the President, the Secretary wanted
to pay the winning bidder P15 billion over three years. Instead of a Private
Public Partnership (PPP) arrangement, de Jesus favored awarding what he calls a
"Service Contract."
The President was against it. PNoy preferred an arrangement that is
straightforward, very transparent, no-nonsense, and with no out-of-pocket
expense for the government. He wanted the winning bidder to take over the
operations and maintenance of the MRT at no cost to the government in exchange
for an extension of the 25-year contract, depending on the amount of investments
the private operator puts in the project.
LTO Chief Virginia Torres had nothing to do with the sacking of de Jesus by
the President. If at all, Torres was only one of those who briefed the President
on the real score involving the P 1.2 billion that Stradcom was trying hard to
collect from the government, contradicting what Velasco earlier told PNoy. It
was the LTO chief who refused to release the P 1.2-billion payment to Stradcom
given what she described as an "anomalous contract."
At one point, the President reportedly confronted Velasco and told him
straight to his face, "You're not telling me the whole story." In effect, PNoy
accused Velasco of lying to him.
On another issue, showing extreme displeasure, PNoy reportedly confronted de
Jesus about why the MRT coaches malfunction very often and why despite his
order, the coaches remain decrepit. The President must have been hurt by the
incessant public criticisms over the frequent malfunctioning of the MRT coaches.
He had expected the DOTC boys to solve the recurring problems in the MRT to
spare him the negative publicity being generated by the incompetence of some
government officials.
Three DOTC undersecretaries namely, Dante Velasco, Glicerio Sicat and Ruben
Reinoso called a press conference on Friday to announce that they too were
resigning their posts effective June 30 to "give the incoming Secretary a free
hand."
At the same time, they accused the President of extending passive support for
DOTC's programs. Reinoso also announced that he was going back to his old job at
NEDA and Velasco to the Office of the Executive Secretary. Until that press
conference, nobody knew Velasco was holding on to two positions on a concurrent
capacity.
After putting the President in a bad light, these two now want to go back to
their "old jobs." What gall.
***
Related story:
DOTC 'advanced' P58 million
Payment not allowed by COA but radar firm still got funds
By Joel M. Sy Egco, Assignments Editor Manila Times
GOVERNMENT auditors have disallowed a P58-million "advance payment" made by
the Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) to the winning bidder
for the controversial Communications, Navigation and Surveillance/Air Traffic
Management (CNS/ATM) Systems Development Project, which was reportedly among the
main reasons for the "sacking" of top agency officials.
In his "Valentine's Day" letter to Transportation Secretary Jose "Ping" de
Jesus, a copy of which was obtained by The Manila Times, DOTC resident auditor
and lawyer Aristoteles Ilarde disallowed the release of the amount representing
"15-percent advance payment" because of the failure of agency officials to
clarify certain issues raised previously by the Commission on Audit (COA)
regarding the project.
"We are returning the Request of Disbursement and Disbursement Voucher No.
102-201101-0083 dated January 19, 2011, and the related supporting documents for
the 15 percent advance payment [to] Sumitomo Corporation/Thales Australia Ltd.
Joint venture of the New CNS/ATM Systems Development Project Package I in the
amounts of Y1,036,221,982.00 and P58,923,269.03 due to failure by management to
clarify the issues and concerns raised in COA Audit Observations Memorandum No.
09-033 dated July 2, 2010 and the related series of communications thereafter,"
Ilarde said in his letter coursed through DOTC chief accountant Edna Tapar.
Questions on the propriety of the CNS/ATM project came after the
Transportation department awarded Package 1 of the project to Sumitomo/Thales
Joint Venture on December 23, 2010. This phase costs P4.2 billion.
Since July last year, COA has been seeking clarifications from the proponents
of the CNS/ATM project on some vague provisions in the contract.
Despite this, the DOTC released the 15-percent advance payment to the
contractor.
State auditors decided to "disallow" the payment after they found out that
only a consultant had ordered commencement of the project.
"We also noted that the Notice to Proceed/Notice of Commencement of Work to
Sumitomo Corporation was not issued by the Head of the Procuring Entity but
instead by the consultant, which is not in accordance with the provisions of RA
[Republic Act] 9184," Ilarde further said in the letter.
"In view thereof, compliance is hereby requested before appropriate action
could be taken on the herein claim," he added.
RA 9184 is the act providing for the modernization, standardization and
regulation of the procurement activities of the government and for other
purposes.
When sought for comment, de Jesus maintained that there was nothing wrong in
their actions and that the issues raised by the Audit commission were all being
addressed.
"We have responded to all the issues raised by the auditor and have appealed
the auditor's disallowance," he said through a text message he sent to The
Manila Times.
A source of The Times claimed that the Commission on Audit advised the
Transportation department against awarding the CNS/ATM contract to Thales
Australia Ltd. because it was blacklisted for abandoning a previous deal with
the Philippine government.
Formerly known as Thompson-CSF Group, Thales was blacklisted during the time
of President Fidel Ramos after failing to deliver on its contract package for
the Globe Maritime Distress Safety System (GMDSS), which resulted in the
Philippine Coast Guard resorting to the use of its antiquated system in its
maritime operations.
"[COA] stated they [DOTC] cannot award [the project] to Thales considering
that they have abandoned the project called the global maritime distress signal
system. At [the] time, their name was Thompson CSF. The disqualification of
other bidders was also spurious," The Times source said.
A highly-reliable government source earlier claimed that de Jesus and his
subordinates were actually "asked to resign" after they drew the ire of
President Benigno Aquino 3rd for ignoring his instructions to have certain
contracts further scrutinized on suspicion that these may be riddled with
anomalies.
Apart from the CNS/ATM System Project, the other "dubious" deals are the
Metro Rail Transit (MRT) 7 Project and the inter-connectivity contract between
the Land Transportation Office (LTO) and information technology provider
Stradcom Corp.
The source claimed that the President has come across the questionable
decisions by agency officials on the controversial deals.
Besides being expensive, the Japanese-funded air traffic management project
was criticized for allegedly being "flawed," "futile" and "redundant" since
existing air traffic facilities can very well handle anticipated increase in
international and domestic flights in the future.
Critics said that the CNS/ATM System Project worth P13 billion should be
quashed because the existing Manila Air Control Center (MACC) can still
effectively manage air traffic.
At the most, the sources added, an upgrade of the MACC should be undertaken.
June 7, 2011 12:26 pm Tags: Ping de Jesus Posted in: Benigno Aquino
III, Graft and corruption
Chief News Editor: Sol Jose
Vanzi
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