Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana dared on Thursday, July 1, Senator Many Pacquiao to provide details on the alleged corruption in the $300 million acquisition of Philippine Navy frigates.
In a statement posted on the Twitter account of the Department of National Defense (DND), Lorenzana denied the corruption allegation supposedly made by Pacquiao who is now engaged in a word war with his former political ally, President Duterte.
"Sen. Pacquiao, the frigate deal has been thoroughly investigated by the Senate in 2017 and they found nothing anomalous. In fact, you were in one of the hearings Senator," said Lorenzana.
He was apparently referring to the inquiry of the Senate Committee on National Defense and Security over allegations that then Special Assistant to the President and now Sen. Christopher Go meddled into the procurement of the combat management system of the two brand new frigates bought by the Philippine government from South Korea's Hyundai Heavy Industry.
The investigation was triggered by an expose of the supposed annotation from Go to consider the proposal of another weapon system contractor to supply the combat management system of the two frigates.
The Philippine Navy was then rooting for a combat weapon system, Thales, which is commonly used by most naval forces in the world. The incident was believed to have resulted in the relief of then Philippine Navy chief Vice Admiral Ronald Joseph Mercado.
But Lorenzana insisted that there was nothing wrong with the entire procurement process.
"Those frigates were delivered last year ahead of schedule and they passed the Navy's Technical Inspection and Acceptance Committee," said Lorenzana.
The acquisition of the two brand new frigates started in 2013, a year after the Philippines figured in a standoff at the Scarborough Shoal with China. The acquisition was part of the aggressive modernization of the Armed Forces of the Philippines that include the procurement of 12 fighter jets amid the territorial dispute in the West Philippine Sea.
The contract for the procurement was signed in October 2016.
The first of the two frigates, named BRP Jose Rizal, was delivered in May last year while the second one, BRP Antonio Luna, was delivered in February this year.
"Since you seem to be so sure of your allegations, it would be much appreciated if you could provide details of this alleged corruption," said Lorenzana.