BY RAYMOND AFRICA and PETER TABINGO
PNP chief Guillermo Eleazar yesterday ordered all concerned police units to look into the supposed discrepancies on the transfer of firearms, body armors, and other equipment from the National Headquarters in Camp Crame (NHQ) to different police regional offices (PROs) as noted by the Commission on Audit.
Eleazar tasked the PNP accounting division, Directorate for Comptrollership, and the Directorate for Logistics to thoroughly review their respective records and make the necessary adjustments to correct the discrepancies and ensure all items are delivered to the concerned PROs.
“I already directed the concerned police offices to check why the records of the National Headquarters and the Police Regional Offices do not match. They should reconcile the records and correct the discrepancies to avoid possible issues in the deployment of weapons and other equipment to the Police Regional Offices,” Eleazar said in a statement.
Eleazar issued the order after the COA, in its 2020 audit report released only last July 9, showed that thousands of short and long firearms and body armor vests supposedly transferred from the NHQ to PROs did not show up in the receipt and acknowledgment reports of the intended recipients.
At least 11 PROs had discrepancies in their records compared to the records of the NHQ.
They are the PROs in Ilocos, Central Luzon, Southern Tagalog, Mimaropa, Bicol, Western Visayas, Central Visayas, Western Mindanao, Central Mindanao, Cordillera, and the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.
Aside from the firearms and body armors, COA also noted the lack of deliveries for service vehicles, ambulances, communications equipment, combat helmets, computers, and investigation kits.
The NHQ earlier said it has journal entry vouchers that have been accomplished with regard to “technical and scientific equipment” sent to the PROs.
The Directorate for Logistics cited “technicalities associated to some NSU (national support units)” but said that new policies are now being crafted but the “eventual implementation to transfer to PROs will take some time.”
Eleazar assured the PNP is always transparent and vowed that necessary steps will be made to correct the discrepancies.
“The PNP remains transparent and I assure the COA that we will address and correct this. I would also like to assure that all equipment meant for our PROs will be delivered and accounted for,” he said.
More equipment donated to the PNP last year, including 50 BMW bikes and 200 assault rifles, were not listed in the books, according to government auditors.
The donations totaling P98.66 million were supposed to be taken up in the agency books at fair value on the date they were acquired as mandated under Section 12, Chapter 10 of the Government Accounting Manual (GAM).
A list provided by the audit team showed San Miguel Corp. was the door of the 50 BMW Motorrad G310R bikes costing P10.99 million.
Another P84.6 million worth of equipment and supplies were donated by the city government of Makati to the PNP-National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO), including 200 assault rifles worth P44.9 million, three caliber 7.62mm sniper rifles (P2.7 million), 35 night vision scopes (P16.94 million), 70 reflector optic sight (P2.79 million), and P45 tactical gas masks (P1.24 million).
Businessman Eduardo G. Yao also donated two outdoor LED screens to the Police Regional Office-Cordillera (PRO-COR) valued at P3.01 million.
“Various donated motor vehicles, equipment and supplies with an aggregate amount of P98,661,705 were not recorded in the books of accounts due to non-submission of Deed of Donation,” the COA said.
Also received by the PNP, albeit with no price tag indicated, were 142 KR motorcycles, 49 Hyundai Elantra, and 81 Starex vans from the Republic of Korea; 45 Toyota Prius hybrid, 87 Misubishi Montero, 13 Nissan Urvan, six bomb suits, six ballistic shields, 440 body armor vests, and 440 ballistic helmets from Japan; and several other vehicles from government-owned or controlled corporations.
For the BMW bikes, the COA said submission of the deeds of donation is the responsibility of the PNP Directorate for Logistics.
With regard to the donations from the Makati City government, the deeds of donation should have been submitted by the Makati City Police while donations to the PRO-COR were supposed to be documented by the Supply Accountable Officer-Logistics Office.
In reaction to the audit findings, the PNP leadership said all three offices have already submitted the deeds of donations together with the appraisal report for donated property, plant, and equipment (PPE).
