ADVERTISEMENT
Manila Bulletin devider Philippines devider National devider Raffy Tulfo flags PPA's purchase of 191 body-worn cameras worth P800k each

Raffy Tulfo flags PPA's purchase of 191 body-worn cameras worth P800k each

Published Oct 9, 2025 04:25 pm

At A Glance

  • Senator Raffy Tulfo slammed the Philippine Ports Authority for allegedly overpricing body-worn cameras at ₱879,000 each, accusing officials of collusion and urging Transportation Secretary Giovanni Lopez to investigate and dismiss those involved.
Senator Raffy Tulfo on Thursday, Oct. 9, criticized the Philippine Ports Authority (PPA) for its purchase of what he called overpriced body-worn cameras worth P879,000 each in 2020.
Senator Raffy Tulfo (Senate PRIB photo)
Senator Raffy Tulfo (Senate PRIB photo)
This was during the subcommittee hearing deliberating the proposed budget of the Department of Transportation (DOTr) and attached agencies and corporations.
"Sa Philippine National Police (PNP) 135,000 medyo nahiya pa nga yung PNP nun...pero sa inyo P879,000grabe naman sana nilubos-lubos niyo na lang sana ginawa niyo na lang sigurong P1 million," Tulfo said told PPA General Manager Jay Santiago.
According to Santiago, the cameras are still being used by port officers as part of the national port surveillance center and are integrated into the agency's regular surveillance system.
The official explained that the procurement underwent the regular process under Republic Act No. 9184, or the Government Procurement Reform Act. He even stated before the subpanel that, similar to other procurements of the PPA — whether for infrastructure, goods, or equipment — the agency does not allow advance payments.
But Tulfo argued that the matter in question is the price of the body-worn cameras per unit.
"Ang pinaguusapan dito sobrang overpricing, immoral na ito, eskandaloso na masyado (What we’re talking about here is extreme overpricing — this is already immoral and outrageously scandalous)," Tulfo said.
He also criticized the agency for awarding the contract to Boston Home Inc., which, according to records the senator obtained from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), showed it has only a P10 million paid-up capital.
He added that the company was flagged by the Commission on Audit (COA) for selling defective equipment to the Environmental Management Bureau (EMB).
"Hindi kayo gumawa ng pagchecheck sa background ng company na bingyan niyo ng pagkalaki-laking kontrata , number one yun, kasi kung nagcheck kayo malalaman niyo na hindi karapat-dapat bigyan ng kontrata 'to. Kami nagcheck kami pinuntahan namin apartment ang address nila ng kumpanya (You didn’t even conduct a background check on the company you awarded such a huge contract to — that’s the first issue. If you had done so, you would have known that this company didn’t deserve the contract. We did our own checking and went to their listed address, and it turned out to be just an apartment)," he said.
Tulfo then asked Santiago who conducted the post-qualification evaluation after choosing the lowest qualified bidder. Santiago said that it was a technical working group (TWG) as well as the Bids and Awards Committee of the agency.
After this, Tulfo asked Acting (DOTr) Secretary Giovanni Lopez to sack the involved PPA officials.
"Sec. Lopez, sibakin mo nga 'to. I'm asking you. Imbestigahan mo ito at sibakin dahil may kuntyabahan na para dugasin yung gobyerno. Kahit na ano pang palusot mo Mr. Santiago hindi katanggap tanggap yun (Sec. Lopez, fire him. I'm asking you — investigate this and sack him because there's collusion to bleed the government dry. No matter what excuse you give, Mr. Santiago, that's unacceptable)," Tulfo said.
Lopez committed to looking into the matter.

Related Tags

Raffy Tulfo Philippine Ports Authority (PPA) Department of Transportation (DOTr) Body-worn cameras
ADVERTISEMENT
.most-popular .layout-ratio{ padding-bottom: 79.13%; } @media (min-width: 768px) and (max-width: 1024px) { .widget-title { font-size: 15px !important; } }

{{ articles_filter_1561_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}
.most-popular .layout-ratio{ padding-bottom: 79.13%; } @media (min-width: 768px) and (max-width: 1024px) { .widget-title { font-size: 15px !important; } }

{{ articles_filter_1562_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}
.most-popular .layout-ratio{ padding-bottom: 79.13%; } @media (min-width: 768px) and (max-width: 1024px) { .widget-title { font-size: 15px !important; } }

{{ articles_filter_1563_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}

{{ articles_filter_1564_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}
.mb-article-details { position: relative; } .mb-article-details .article-body-preview, .mb-article-details .article-body-summary{ font-size: 17px; line-height: 30px; font-family: "Libre Caslon Text", serif; color: #000; } .mb-article-details .article-body-preview iframe , .mb-article-details .article-body-summary iframe{ width: 100%; margin: auto; } .read-more-background { background: linear-gradient(180deg, color(display-p3 1.000 1.000 1.000 / 0) 13.75%, color(display-p3 1.000 1.000 1.000 / 0.8) 30.79%, color(display-p3 1.000 1.000 1.000) 72.5%); position: absolute; height: 200px; width: 100%; bottom: 0; display: flex; justify-content: center; align-items: center; padding: 0; } .read-more-background a{ color: #000; } .read-more-btn { padding: 17px 45px; font-family: Inter; font-weight: 700; font-size: 18px; line-height: 16px; text-align: center; vertical-align: middle; border: 1px solid black; background-color: white; } .hidden { display: none; }
function initializeAllSwipers() { // Get all hidden inputs with cms_article_id document.querySelectorAll('[id^="cms_article_id_"]').forEach(function (input) { const cmsArticleId = input.value; const articleSelector = '#article-' + cmsArticleId + ' .body_images'; const swiperElement = document.querySelector(articleSelector); if (swiperElement && !swiperElement.classList.contains('swiper-initialized')) { new Swiper(articleSelector, { loop: true, pagination: false, navigation: { nextEl: '#article-' + cmsArticleId + ' .swiper-button-next', prevEl: '#article-' + cmsArticleId + ' .swiper-button-prev', }, }); } }); } setTimeout(initializeAllSwipers, 3000); const intersectionObserver = new IntersectionObserver( (entries) => { entries.forEach((entry) => { if (entry.isIntersecting) { const newUrl = entry.target.getAttribute("data-url"); if (newUrl) { history.pushState(null, null, newUrl); let article = entry.target; // Extract metadata const author = article.querySelector('.author-section').textContent.replace('By', '').trim(); const section = article.querySelector('.section-info ').textContent.replace(' ', ' '); const title = article.querySelector('.article-title h1').textContent; // Parse URL for Chartbeat path format const parsedUrl = new URL(newUrl, window.location.origin); const cleanUrl = parsedUrl.host + parsedUrl.pathname; // Update Chartbeat configuration if (typeof window._sf_async_config !== 'undefined') { window._sf_async_config.path = cleanUrl; window._sf_async_config.sections = section; window._sf_async_config.authors = author; } // Track virtual page view with Chartbeat if (typeof pSUPERFLY !== 'undefined' && typeof pSUPERFLY.virtualPage === 'function') { try { pSUPERFLY.virtualPage({ path: cleanUrl, title: title, sections: section, authors: author }); } catch (error) { console.error('ping error', error); } } // Optional: Update document title if (title && title !== document.title) { document.title = title; } } } }); }, { threshold: 0.1 } ); function showArticleBody(button) { const article = button.closest("article"); const summary = article.querySelector(".article-body-summary"); const body = article.querySelector(".article-body-preview"); const readMoreSection = article.querySelector(".read-more-background"); // Hide summary and read-more section summary.style.display = "none"; readMoreSection.style.display = "none"; // Show the full article body body.classList.remove("hidden"); } document.addEventListener("DOMContentLoaded", () => { let loadCount = 0; // Track how many times articles are loaded const offset = [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10]; // Offset values const currentUrl = window.location.pathname.substring(1); let isLoading = false; // Prevent multiple calls if (!currentUrl) { console.log("Current URL is invalid."); return; } const sentinel = document.getElementById("load-more-sentinel"); if (!sentinel) { console.log("Sentinel element not found."); return; } function isSentinelVisible() { const rect = sentinel.getBoundingClientRect(); return ( rect.top < window.innerHeight && rect.bottom >= 0 ); } function onScroll() { if (isLoading) return; if (isSentinelVisible()) { if (loadCount >= offset.length) { console.log("Maximum load attempts reached."); window.removeEventListener("scroll", onScroll); return; } isLoading = true; const currentOffset = offset[loadCount]; window.loadMoreItems().then(() => { let article = document.querySelector('#widget_1690 > div:nth-last-of-type(2) article'); intersectionObserver.observe(article) loadCount++; }).catch(error => { console.error("Error loading more items:", error); }).finally(() => { isLoading = false; }); } } window.addEventListener("scroll", onScroll); });
Join Our Newsletters

Sign up by email to receive news.

© 2025 Manila Bulletin The Nation's Leading Newspaper. All Rights Reserved.