There are so many loose ends that the government has to tie up.
“On Monday, Mar 24, opposition lawmakers—Abakada Rep. Jonathan dela Cruz, Bayan Muna Rep. Antonio Carlos Zarate and former Agham congressman Angelo Palmones—accused President Benigno Aquino III and Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) Secretary Manuel Roxas II of authorizing the importation of 76 overpriced fire trucks for PHP20.14 million each, rather than the PHP7 million that the administration publicized in 2012 or P6 million each for locally manufactured units,” reports Christine F. Herrera in Manila Standard Today.
The alleged overpriced units are from Austrian manufacturer Rosenbauer.
Dela Cruz, Zarate, and Palmones cautioned the President and Roxas against importing 300 more firetrucks from the same source. In fact, Dela Cruz has “vowed to summon Roxas to a Question Hour in Congress to shed light on charges that the Rosenbauer fire trucks were priced even higher than those contracted by the previous Arroyo administration.”
The report pointed out that after President Aquino came to power in 2010, “the Liberal Party led by Roxas questioned the loan concession that the Arroyo administration had signed with Rosenbauer in 2008 or 2009, saying that the contract price of each unit, then at PHP16 million, was already considered too high.”
In other words, this is going to be a big headache.
Photo from MorgueFile
