CLARK FREEPORT – Despite lack of evidence so far, new CIAC President-CEO Emigdio Tanjuatco III would still look into allegations of anomalies in the bidding of projects within his agency.
There have been “white papers” circulating recently purportedly exposing anomalies involving airport personnel.
One report alleged a 300 percent overpricing in the alleged purchase of the Instrument Landing System (ILS), a radio beam transmitter that provides VHF omni directional range (VOF). Tanjuatco said he has not heard of this as he assumed post only last October.
Long-time CIAC Executive Vice President Bienvenido Manga, however, noted that the Clark airport’s ILS was purchased way back in 1996 during the Ramos administration and has not been replaced since then. “The lifetime of an ILS is ideally only 10 years, but our technicians here, assisted by technicians from the CAAP (Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines), have prolonged the usefulness of our 18-year-old ILS,” he said.
At the same time, Tanjuatco downplayed reports of rigged bidding allegedly for an aviation- related project this week.
Another circulating report said that the CIAC’s bids and awards committee had tailor-fitted the bidding for a favored contractor without aviation experience. Tanjuatco, however, noted that the only bidding slated for this week was for security services which was held Tuesday.
No winner in the bidding had been chosen as of yesterday, he added. Manga said that the bidding was held among security agencies involving the hiring of 120 security guards. He also clarified published reports (not in Punto) that two fire trucks purchased recently by CIAC before he assumed post, were overpriced and were manufactured in South Korea and Taiwan.
“I guarantee you that the fire trucks are up to standards for international airports,” he stressed. Tanjuatco said that his second cousin Pres. Aquino’s mandate for him at the CIAC, where he assumed post only last Oct. 7, was to make the Clark International Airport (CRK) “marketable under a Philippine setting.”
