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Thursday, June 20, 2013

Philippines, US to hold exercises near Panatag Scarborough Shoal

File photo of US marines and their Philippine counterparts take part in joint Philippine-US military exercises, April 15, 2013. (AFP/Ted Aljibe)

The United States and the Philippines are to hold joint naval manoeuvres in the South China Sea next week between the main island of Luzon and a reef claimed by both China and Philippines, the Filipino navy said.

The exercises taking place from June 27 to July 2 by the two allies are to be held about 108 kilometers (67 miles) east of Scarborough Shoal, navy spokesman Lieutenant-Commander Gregory Fabic told AFP.

Chinese government vessels are still believed to be patrolling the waters around the shoal after a lengthy stand-off last year with the Philippines, which ended with a Filipino retreat.

"This was planned way back in 2010. Whatever happened since then was purely coincidental," Fabic said when asked if holding the exercises there this year were a way for the Philippines to reassert its sovereignty over the shoal.

The manoeuvres would be held over 12,347 square kilometers (4,767 square miles) of waters, he added.

Chinese embassy spokesmen in Manila could not be reached for comment on Thursday.

Beijing claims it has sovereign rights over nearly all of the South China Sea and West Philippine Sea, even waters far away from its main landmass and approaching the coasts of Southeast Asian countries.

The Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan also claim parts of the sea, and the area has for decades been regarded as a potential trigger for major military conflict in the region.

Since last month, the Philippine navy has also been monitoring Chinese government vessels in the South China Sea stationed off a Filipino-controlled reef in the Spratly Islands called the 'Anguyin Reef" or  Second Thomas Shoal.

Fabic said an unspecified number of US Navy ships, Marines and aircraft will take part in the exercises alongside Philippine Navy and coastguard vessels and aircraft, Filipino Marines, and navy and coastguard special operations teams.

"We will focus on communications, naval surface operations, counter-terrorism and maritime security," he said.

"This is to increase the level of inter-operability between the Philippine Navy and the US Navy in the conduct of combined naval operations."

- AFP/fl

Channel News Asia

Wednesday, June 19, 2013

DILG-Philippine National Police (PNP) to procure 2,500 patrol vehicles worth ₱2.08 Billion

Secretary of the Interior and Local Government Mar Roxas today, June 19, revealed that the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) and the Philippine National Police (PNP) would procure some 2,500 units of patrol vehicles worth P2.08 billion to increase police visibility, mobility, and crime-fighting ability.

Roxas assured an "open, transparent and fair bidding" process before senior executives of about a dozen car manufacturers and dealers whom he invited at the PNP headquarters at Camp Crame to show them what the PNP is specifically looking for.

The patrol vehicles would be a "single cab pickup with a carrier at the back." "We want the best price, we want the best value," he said.

Roxas said one of the objectives in inviting car dealers and manufacturers was to show them a transparent bidding, which will be a "two-envelope" process involving technical and financial evaluation. Only those who pass the technical evaluation would be qualified to enter the financial evaluation phase.

"Hindi natin papayagan na ang tuwid na daan ni Presidente PNoy ay mababahiran. Inaasahan natin na ang bukas at malinis na prosesong ito ay mag-aambag sa ating isinusulong na kultura ng dangal sa hanay ng kapulisan," Roxas said.

He assured car manufacturers of the availability of funds for the entire procurement because "we are buying 2,500 units, bulto at hindi sachet-style ang procurement."

Several old-generation PNP patrol vehicles were put on display on the street fronting the multi-purpose building. Roxas invited the senior executives from Mitsubishi Motors Corp., Toyota, Kia, Mazda, Isuzu, BMW, Honda, and other major car manufacturing groups in the country to "look under the hood and check out the specifications to get an idea of what the PNP wants."

The Secretary was accompanied at the briefing by the PNP Deputy Chief for Administration Ager Ontog Jr. and the PNP Deputy Chief for Operations Felipe Rojas.

"Ang pinakamahalagang prinsipyo na iiral dito ay ang pagiging hayag, maayos, transparent at hindi darating sa hablahan," Roxas said. "Rerebisahin at papatibayin yung bagong specs upang hindi magkaroon ng bahid at mantsa ang proseso."

"We will go through the process of RA 9184," he added, referring to the Government Procurement Reform Act, which governs all government bidding and procurement processes.

In a Power Point presentation for the bidding process, PNP Deputy Director Rojas explained that before the procurement, the DILG and PNP will come up with several stages, which include planning, specification, public bidding, delivery, and acceptance, and payment to the winning bidder.

Roxas said there would be a timetable for the bidding process to enable bidding participants to prepare and complete their documentary, technical and financial requirements.

The bidding process, he said, would start once the DILG-PNP shall have placed an advertisement for an 'invitation to bid' in major newspapers of general circulation, which will indicate the type of vehicle to be bought, its specifications, the bidding date and the ABC.

Seven calendar days after the 'invitation to bid' appeared in the papers, the DILG-PNP and the prospective bidders will conduct a pre-bidding conference, which will set the dates (to be done within 12 to 30 days) on the receiving and opening of bids (opening of 1st envelope, technical and preliminary exam; and 2nd envelope, financial; and later, bid evaluation and ranking.)

After the opening of the two envelopes, there would be a Post Qualification or determination of the winning bidder, to be followed by the issuance of 'Notice of Award' from 7 to 30 calendar days. The Notice of Award is being issued by the Head of the Procuring Entity.

Once the Notice of Award is issued to the winning bidder, the concerned PNP officials will prepare and sign the necessary contract. When the contract is signed and approved, the winning bidder will be issued a "notice to proceed' which means the delivery of the procured vehicles. All deliveries will still be subject to examination/scrutiny by members of the Delivery and Acceptance Committee of the PNP.

According to Rojas, the funds for the vehicle procurement would be sourced from the unused  funds, the following:

  • 241.5 million PNP Capability Enhancement Program (CEP) for 2012;
  • 894.4 million from CEP 2013
  • 944.4 million from the PNP Operational Transformation Plan (PNP OTP).

Both amounts from the CEP for 2013 and PNP OTP are still awaiting issuance of Special Allotment Release Order or SARO.

The DILG chief has tasked the officials of the PNP to come up with new specifications for the new vehicles it would bid out which include its fuel, engine displacement, horsepower, transmission among others.

"On the part of the PNP, I will give them the challenge of coming out with new specs for the new vehicles to be procured, the attachment of roofing and convertible seats, with the end in view na walang question on their end, na walang bahid ng anomalya o kontrobersya" the DILG chief said.

The car manufacturers interested in joining the bidding would be required to produce a prototype of the vehicle they would supply to the PNP.

"We will give them (car dealers) 30 to 45 days to come up with their respective prototypes which they would present to the various PNP offices involved in the bidding," he said.

www.gov.ph

www.dilg.gov.ph

From the Department of Interior and Local Government

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