Liebe Forumsgemeinde,
weil es gerade so schön ist, sollten wir doch einen kleinen Blick in das Congress-Protokoll vom 6 bis 9 März 2006 schauen. Dort können wir unseren Freund ebenfalls wiederfinden. (FIRST CORPORATION)
http://www.congress.gov.ph/leg…al.php?congress=13&id=140
(ist ein langes Dokument - 760KB)
Ich habe zur Vereinfachung den relevanten Teil herauskopiert.
Bevor das Lesen beginnt, verabschiede ich mich vor die Flimmerkiste.
Gute Nacht,
Euer Sackgesicht
At this juncture, on motion of Rep. Castro, the Chair recognized Rep. Rolex T. Suplico on a question of personal and collective privilege. However, he said that in line with an agreement with the Speaker, the latter will deliver his speech without submitting himself to interpellation.
QUESTION OF PRIVILEGE
OF REP. SUPLICO
Mr. Speaker, more than two years ago, our premier maritime institution, the Philippine Merchant Marine Academy (PMMA), located in San Narciso, Zambales, became a recipient of a loan from the Federal Republic of Germany. The purpose of the loan, amounting to nearly P800 million, was desirable. It was intended to upgrade the institutions training facilities to further enhance the skills of our merchant mariners, to make them more competitive in the world maritime market.
The project called for the construction of a dome, replete with the state of the art Full Mission Ship Bridge and ship engine simulators, a computer infrastructure, a complete training ship, a patrol boat, lifeboats and davits, a quay and port facilities to berth the ship, a firehouse, emergency power upgrade to make the PMMA independent from local power suppliers, expensive 3-D drawings of virtually all category of ships, among others.
While the objective of the project was indeed desirable, the implementation, however, left much to be desired. It was festered with anomalies, scams, briberies, ghost deliveries and fraud, all at the expense of the Filipino taxpayers who will eventually shoulder the burden for the cost of the project.
The funds for this project, Mr. Speaker, were channeled through a German government-owned bank, Kreditanstalt fuer Wiederaufbau, or KfW. The contractor was also a German firm, the Rheinmetall Defence Electronics (RDE) based in Bremen, Germany and was also formerly known as STN Atlas, a major supplier of simulator equipment. RDE won the BID because it tagged along a local company, FIRST Corporation, which was qualified to handle the after-sales maintenance component of the project as required by the bidding rules. The project was due for completion and turn-over on December, 2005.
To the countrys extreme prejudice, the project is still undelivered. Worse, it is beset with anomalies.
The training ship, Juan Luna cannot be berthed because the port facilities are far from completion. The construction of the port infrastructure is likewise not in accordance with accepted professional standards. The ship, virtually of scrap vintage, was bought for a price TAG of P2 million and together with renovation expenses came UP to a total cost of less than P10 million. Appropriation cost for the quay and port facilities amounted to P15 million, for a total of P25 million. The budget for the ship infrastructure package amounted to P54 million. The German contractor got away with P29 million or more than 100% in profits, while our country got a junk for a training ship and a poorly-constructed, unfinished port facilities.
First Corporation, the original contracted for the after-sales maintenance component of the project, was unceremoniously ejected from the project. RDE refused to honor its contract with FIRST Corp. for the simple reason that FIRST Corp. chairman, who was also formerly the local agent for RDE, refused to cooperate in RDEs attempt to bribe the consultant of the KfW bank. The attempt to bribe the KfW consultant, for him to turn a blind eye on the anomalies circulating within the project, failed as the consultant flatly rejected the bribe offer.
The anomalies which festered the project, include the following:
1. RDE was required to secure an insurance coverage for the project with Hermes Insurance. The coverage was for a total sum of Euro 520,000, which is with KfW-projects mandatory and has to be done by the winning party. RDE did not factor this amount in the tendered documents. In order to raise the amount for the insurance, and without dipping its fingers into its profit margin, RDE, in an act which can only happen with the connivance of PMMA officials, resorted to ghost deliveries of several major items for which provisional acceptance certificates (PACs) were issued by the PMMA-PMO, acknowledging receipt of the said items without actual deliveries. The total amount of these ghost deliveries amounted to Euro 522,862.54, the same amount needed to pay for the Hermes Insurance coverage.
I have here, Mr. Speaker, the summary of the said ghost deliveries.
2. Very recently, an auditor from the KfW bank conducted an ocular audit of the project, His report, a copy of which I have with me, indicating several glaring anomalies, such as:
a) The davits installed in the port are clearly old and worn-out, they were merely repainted to give the semblance of being new.
b) The lifeboats are likewise old and were made to appear as new. Worse, the lifeboats were certified by a local classification firm from Cebu as new, despite the fact that these were clearly pre-used.
There are no estimates in the KfW Report as to how much the Philippine government is disadvantaged, but these could easily run into millions of pesos.
3. RDEs warranty and performance bonds expired but the PMMA turned a blind eye and did not require RDE to renew the bonds. Approximate cost for the bonds is about Euro 2.3 million or about P180 million. The non-renewal of these bonds allowed the German contractor to pocket what otherwise would have been fixed premium cost. As to why the implementors of the PMMA project allowed this to happen is the 64 million dollar question. Worse, because of RDEs contract violation, i.e. non-deliveries, ghost deliveries and failure to deliver the project on time, the PMMA could have enforced the warranty and performance bonds. That the bonds were not renewed has placed the PMMA, and the country, at a loss, because we can no longer collect on the bonds.
4. PCAs were requested by RDE and these were signed by the PMMA for the entire installation which include acceptance of all deliveries, ghost deliveries and deliveries for used items, obviously a means to cover-up all the anomalies in the project.
5. There was a bribery attempt in the total sum of Euro 228,000 or an equivalent of P15 million, offered by RDE to the KfW/PMMA project consultant, to silence him and to ensure a smooth project implementation. The bribe offer was coursed through the former RDE local agent, who refused to cooperate in that criminal scheme. For his refusal, the former RDE local agent was stripped of his agency and his entire commissions for the said project were not paid. The KfW consultant, however, flatly refused the bribe offer.
6. The former RDE local agent further suffered at the hands of his former principals. His company, FIRST Corp., despite the only one qualified to do the job because his employees were trained by RDE itself, was deleted as after-sales maintenance conduit. The project is now bereft of a qualified after-sales maintenance provider, to the detriment of the PMMA and in gross violation of the bidding rules.
7. The former RDE local agent, a German national, was likewise threatened with assassination the Zambales way and very recently, he was summoned by the Bureau of Immigration and Deportation upon trumped-up charges by unknown individuals who refused to divulge their real identities and addresses.
A summary compilation of financial damages for which Filipino and German taxpayers have to come UP with is with this humble Representation.
The foregoing items alone amount to 4,852,780.00 euros or approximately P315 million. This amount does not include monies which RDE funneled through its German sub-contractor Marinesoft local representative ProProjects, Inc. for purposes which only an appropriate congressional investigation may yet uncover. Its owner, Mr. Zal Marte, appears to be the same individual who procured the training ship Juan Luna formerly known as Florenda II. This ship, bought at per kilo scrap price and destined for the junkyard, has been renovated and will now be used by our young mariners as training ship. So many of our best pilots and Filipino passengers have died from our ageing fleet of flying coffins. Now, Mr. Speaker, we are exposing the lives and limbs of our young cadets at our premier maritime school with the use of this training ship, which is no better than a floating coffin.
Mr. Speaker, this colossal scam at the PMMA, involving as it does a German company, Rheinmetall Defence Electronics (RDE), and coming from the heels of yet another controversy, the German firm Fraport with its Filipino partners PIATCO, must and ought to be investigated in aid of legislation, and the German contractor and its local representative, as found guilty, be banned from doing business with and in the Philippines again.
It is imperative that the parties to this scam, whether they are Filipinos or foreigners be made to answer for any criminal or injudicious acts for which ultimately this country must again suffer.
It is likewise imperative that the implementers of this project, starting with the President of the PMMA, Admiral Fidel Diñoso, out of delicadeza, should step down to pave the way for a fair and impartial investigation.
Mr. Speaker, time and again, our country receives the shorter end of the bargain. Time and again, we end UP receiving less and less from virtually every major contract we get involved in.
I say it is time that the perpetrators of this fraud, locally at the PMMA and abroad, should be unmasked.
I say it is time that scams, especially of this magnitude, be stamped out forever from our country.
Mr. Speaker, I call upon the appropriate committees of the House of Representatives to conduct a speedy congressional inquiry so that we can ferret out the guilty parties and remedial legislative measures be undertaken such that this incident and all others of the same nature may not be repeated.
Auf die vielen Girls im nächsten Urlaub freue ich mich jetzt schon. :]
