The Department of National Defense will be rebidding the contract for the supply of 8,588 rounds of high-explosive ammunition that will be used for the Army’s 105mm Howitzer cannons with a budget of P247,835,166.28.
The DND’s Bids and Awards Committee was to hold the pre-bid conference on April 22 at the DND building in Camp Aguinaldo in Quezon City.
It did not say why the first bidding failed.
Army spokesman Colonel Benjamin Hao said the procurement is part of the “regular requirement” of stockpiling to avoid shortage.
Unit commanders in the battlefield claimed that the supply of ammunition for 105m Howitzers was “running low.” They blamed the alleged shortage to the non-delivery of procured ammo because of complaints of irregularities filed before the Office of the Ombudsman.
But the Army official downplayed the problem by insisting that the new procurement was just part of the Army’s “basic requirement.”
Hao said the 105mm ammo are very important for clearing target areas before ground troops move in.
“Definitely that’s one of our main combat weapon. Bombard the enemy to soften them before troops move in,” Hao explained.
Close to 6,000 rounds of 105mm ammo were being held for safekeeping at the Northern Luzon Command and Sangley Point in Cavite after a local supplier filed an arms smuggling case before the Office of the Ombudsman against several military officials including retired general Hernando Iriberri.
The local supplier representative, retired police general Romulo Maningding, alleged that the fuse of the delivered ammo were fake, not US-made as specified in the contract.
The ammo and fuse were delivered by Mechanical and Chemical Industries, a firm based in Ankara, Turkey.
Another controversy involving the procurement of ammo was the scrapping by Irriberi of the thousands of rounds of ammo that was won through public biddings by the Joavi Philippines Company. These cover two projects worth P97.8 million.
The supplier filed administrative and criminal charges befire the Office of the Ombudsman against Irriberi.