By Aaron Recuenco Long before the Commission on Audit (COA) found something wrong with the procurement of Mahindra vehicles for patrol cars, policemen have already been complaining about the performance of the India-made vehicles, sources in the Philippine National Police (PNP) said. Philippine National Police Spokesperson Senior Supt. Benigno Durana Jr.
(Kevin Tristan Espiritu / MANILA BULLETIN) The procurement of some 2,000 Mahindra vehicles came up during a press briefing at the PNP headquarters Monday afternoon after a report of the COA raised questions on the acquisition, which have caused the problems of “frequent breakdowns, poor after sales services and limited availability of spare parts.” “We do not have good experience as far as those products are concerned so they will not be included in our future procurements,” said Senior Supt. BenignoDurana, PNP spokesman. Duranaalso confirmed that they have faced problems on servicing the vehicles due to the lack of service centers especially in the provinces. This was echoed by Director Jose Maria Victor Ramos, head of the Directorate for Logistics, who said that they are having difficulty getting the spare parts of the vehicles for repair and maintenance. 10% of vehicles not used As a result, Ramos said that 10 percent of the Mahindra vehicles are not being used right now due to spare parts problems. “This Mahindra, it’s being catered by Colombian Motors. So the parts are not really from Mahindra per se but accredited service centers,” said Ramos in a press briefing at Camp Crame. Ramos revealed that the procurement of the Mahindra vehicles is now being investigated by the Office of the Ombudsman. “We will cooperate with the investigation of the Ombudsman,” said Ramos. ‘Enforcers’ and ‘Scorpios’ Based on PNP data, there were 1,656 Mahindra Enforcers and almost 400 Mahindra Scorpios purchased for P1.89 billion. The Mahindra vehicles were procured by the PNP in 2015 and the turnover of the units to various police units started as soon as the vehicles arrived. Earlier complaints According to the PNP Logistics Support Service, complaints regarding the performance of the vehicles flooded their office a few months after the Mahindra Enforcers and Mahindra Scorpio were delivered to variouspolice units around the country. One of the complaints, based on theperformance evaluation of the vehicles,was the problem on acceleration especially on steep and rough roads, the PNP source said. Earlier, police sources had told Manila Bulletin that they made their opposition to the planned procurement of Mahindra vehicles known through letters and requests but those fell on deaf ears. One of the police sources told the Manila Bulletin that an issue they raised was the availability of service centers for the Mahindra vehicles, because the cars will require regular preventive maintenance and servicing. “We are speaking based on our experience but our complaints were not considered. We were somehow vindicated with what is happening now. Sayangangpera,” a senior police official said. Ramos, however, pointed out that it was not the current administration which procured the Mahindra vehicles. It was recalled that the procurement of the Mahindra vehicles over allegations that those were overpriced was one of the issues hurled against presidential candidate Mar Roxas, who was then the secretary of the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG). Roxas has denied the allegations and pointed to procurement documents that stated there were no irregularities in the procurement, especially on the issue of corruption. COA report In a recent report, COA chided the PNP for recommending to the National Police Commission the type and make of vehicles to be purchased, saying that the agency made “unsound changes in the minimum standard specifications and in effect, resulted in the purchase of vehicles that have been bothered with “frequent breakdowns, poor after sales services, and limited availability of spare parts.”