Palace tries to decipher ex-Navy chief’s frigate deal bias

Former Navy chief Vice Admiral Ronald Mercado’s several trips to the office of Thales Tacticos may explain his preference for the Dutch firm as combat management systems (CMS) provider, presidential spokesman Harry Roque said on Monday.

Roque made the insinuation as a Senate body was hearing allegations that presidential special assistant Christopher “Bong” Go intervened to favor a supplier of the CMS for two frigates bought from South Korean firm Hyundai Heavy Industries (HHI).

“I was hoping that I could bring the documents here proving that he has even gone on trips to the office of Tacticos. But I failed to get it because the people in the Navy were still testifying,” Roque said in a press briefing on Monday.

He said the documents could prove that Mercado’s “interest in Tacticos goes beyond the reputation of Tacticos.” But he claimed he didn’t know why Mercado had to visit Tacticos.

Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana relieved Mercado for allegedly refusing to obey orders related to the acquisition of the two frigates from HHI for P15.7 billion.

Mercado has denied disobeying his superiors and insisting on buying the CMS from Thales Tacticos.

The former Navy chief said it was HHI which offered Thales Tacticos to supply the weapons system during the bidding process.

But Roque insisted the bidding for the frigates was completed during the previous administration. He said groups that are “dreaming of another people power” are linking the Duterte administration to the project.

“Those critics who cannot wait, those who are dreaming of another people power so that their preferred president can assume power. That’s not how democracy works in the Philippines. His (Duterte) term is not yet finished. You wait,” he said.

Roque also dared Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV to produce evidence proving that Duterte had ordered Go to meddle in the frigates project.

“Let us not use our office in government to spread things that are not true,” he said.

Roque also called Go a “person of integrity.”

Mercado, meanwhile, denied insinuations he began to favor Thales Tacticos after his trip to France.

The former Navy chief said his trip to France had travel authority and that he went there as part of a defense and military delegation invited to witness defense and military exhibits.

“Afterwards we went to Thales Naval base while other members of that delegation went to other Thales installations,” Mercado, who is retiring on March 9, said.

No bad blood

He also pointed out there’s no bad blood between him and Lorenzana.

After being relieved as Navy chief, Mercado said the project is already behind him and it is now incumbent on the current leadership to work hard enough to have two missile-firing frigates delivered to the Philippine Navy.

“I’ve been saying, I respect the actions of the secretary of national defense. He did it with his purpose. I was the Navy chief. I had to protect my people. As I mentioned during our meeting, our only objective is to undertake the implementation of the contract properly,” Mercado said.

He added that as far as he was concerned, he just provided Lorenzana with additional information.

While not able to present his own power point presentation during the Senate inquiry Monday, Mercado said he highly appreciated the action of the committee of national defense and security led by Sen. Gringo Honasan for initiating an investigation and giving him the opportunity to at least say his piece.

Told that he was quoted in various reports as saying that he intended to have the contract with HHI cancelled if Thales Tacticos CMS were not installed on the two brand-new frigates, Mercado said his previous statements should bear him out.

“Whenever you are interviewing me when I was flag officer in command, I’ve been telling everyone that we are very excited to have a frigate a few years from now. If you look at your files, you’ll never see any moment where I mentioned that we will not be having (those) frigates,” Mercado said.

Mercado also described as highly inspiring Sen. Ralph Recto’s statement that Thales could always be tapped in the final phase of the Frigate Acquisition Program or FAP.

He said that for as long as the project follows the provisions stipulated in the contract, every sailor and Marine would be happy.

“I will be retiring in a few days. I hope this frigate project will be pursued and the ends attained,” Mercado said.

Meanwhile, Lorenzana said that since he was the one who signed the deal for the government, he would readily take responsibility if something goes wrong with the frigate deal.

He added while the Thales Tacticos system might be good for the two frigates, the procurement law has no provisions requiring the government “to pick the best of the best.”

What is important, he added, is that Hanwha’s system fits the specifications required for the ships.

For Rep. Gary Alejano of Magdalo party-list, Go is not yet off the hook. “Malacañang should not be quick to dismiss SAP (special assistant to the President) Go on his involvement in the frigate controversy. Official communications and other documents would bear out SAP Go’s intervention in a project remote to his official duties and capacity,” Alejano told a news conference.

He said Monday’s Senate inquiry did not establish the origin of the white paper instructing the Navy to look at a proposal from Hanwa to supply the frigates’ CMS.

Civilian ships

For a fraction of the P18-billion price tag for two Navy frigates, the country can buy locally made Pasig River ferry boats, floating hospitals, environmental patrol boats and other ships needed by a disaster-prone archipelago where half of the towns lie along the coast, Senate President Pro Tempore Recto said yesterday.

Recto said the deficit in vessels is not only in the Navy, but also in civilian activities such as coast guard patrol, calamity response and tapping Manila’s main waterway as “an alternative to its car-choked streets.”

“If we were able to find the means to buy our Navy more ships, then we should also be that resourceful in meeting the needs of other agencies for more floating assets,” Recto said. He said the government can “buy Filipino” by tapping the shipbuilding industry in President Duterte’s home province of Cebu, as well as Navotas and Subic, where the President last month led the launch of a half-kilometer-long megaship which can carry 20,950 40-foot container vans.

He also cited the two Navotas-made research ships commissioned by the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) – the Lapu-Lapu and Francisco Dagohoy – which have been on research and enforcement patrol since their launch two years ago.

He said each BFAR vessel costs only P250 million or equivalent only to the down payment the government made for China-made Dalian trains for the Metro Rail Transit.

Recto said the Philippines has been recognized as the fourth largest shipbuilder in the world. “If other nations find our ships exceptional, then we should, too.”

He said local shipbuilders can build the “country’s humanitarian fleet.”