Ilocos Norte execs: We handled vehicle procurement

Officials of the provincial government of Ilocos Norte have insisted they were the ones who handled the procurement of 110 multi-cabs and mini-trucks, and not the Singaporean friend of Gov. Imee Marcos.

Pedro Agcaoili Jr., chief of the bids and awards committee, said they picked the supplier, Granstar Motors of Mandaluyong City, through a direct contracting scheme.

Disbursing officers Encarnacion Gaor and Genedine Jambaro, who received cash advances amounting to P50.2 million, said they paid for the vehicles through Gilbert Suribas of Granstar.

These were their statements in previous hearings of the House committee on good government, which they stuck to last Thursday in the face of contrary assertions by Granstar president and owner Fabian Go.

After the House gave him immunity from criminal prosecution, Go testified that he dealt with Imee’s friend Mark Chua and that he met with them in Singapore before the procurement of 40 multi-cabs in December 2011.

Go said they met again in April this year, wherein Imee and her friend allegedly warned him of the House inquiry initiated by Majority Leader and Ilocos Norte Rep. Rodolfo Fariñas.

He said it was also from Chua that he received payments totaling P18.7 million for the multi-cabs and an additional 70 mini-trucks procured in September 2012.

Go said he supplied the vehicles at a price of P270,000 per unit, contrary to the P465,000 appearing in documents covering the cash advances Imee authorized for the payment of multi-cabs and mini-trucks.

He said he neither transacted with Agcaoili nor received payment from Gaor or Jambaro.

Fariñas said it was obvious that it was Chua who handled the procurement and that Gaor and Jambaro turned over their cash advances to Imee’s Singaporean friend.

He said Imee’s friend made a 50-percent down payment to Chua a day after Gaor and Jambaro received their cash advances.

He said Imee knew that Go’s price offer was only P270,000 but that she authorized payment at P465,000 per unit.

Fariñas said the insistence of Agcaoili, Gaor and Jambaro that they were the ones who procured the vehicles and made the payments would collapse when Suribas testifies in the next hearing.

Go has asked for immunity for Suribas, Granstar’s vice president for operations, so he could truthfully tell his role in the transactions.

Imee, who attended last Thursday’s hearing, did not comment on Go’s testimony.