Special Assistant to the President Christopher “Bong” Go on Wednesday said he will immediately resign from his post if Rappler could prove that he indeed intervened in the selection of a weapons system supplier for the Philippine Navy’s modernization program.
In a text message to reporters, the long time aide of Duterte said his name was dragged into the issue despite the fact that the acquisition of two frigates was approved during the administration of former President Benigno Aquino III.
“My name has been unfairly dragged in this issue. I am not privy to the frigate transaction of the DND,” Go said, adding “In fact, I will resign if it can be proven that I intervened. It should be emphasized that the frigate project was already a done deal in 2016 during the time of former Pres. Aquino.”
Go described the document supposedly he gave to Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana assailing the Philippine Navy’s preference for the Tacticos combat management system made by Thales Nederland in favor of the South Korean Hanwha Thales Co. as a “white paper”.
“I have never seen the controversial document (white paper) that is alleged to have come from me, much less, handed the same to SND Lorenzana,” he said.
For his part, Presidential spokesperson Harry Roque confirmed that the controversial military frigate procurement was a done deal and the current administration’s role in the acquisition of the frigates was merely ministerial, which makes it impossible for “Bong” Go to intervene in the acquisition.
“There was no bidding done for the two frigates’ Combat Management Systems (CMS),” Roque said in defending Go from accusation that the latter meddled in the selection of the weapons system.
He said the contract has been given and awarded under the Aquino administration and it was “futile to intervene.”
“The contract was already awarded. Why would SAP Go intervene? You can mediate if there was no Notice of Award yet and influence the government who and where to purchase the product,” Roque said in Filipino.
“I think this chronology of events, as well as the legal provisions of the government procurement law will belie the report of Rappler that SAP Go in anyway intervened in connection with the acquisition and procurement of these two frigates,” he added.
Roque said that it was obvious that Rappler is ignorant of the government’s procurement law, Republic Act 9184, as well as the technical specifications of bidding of the two navy frigates of the Philippine Navy.
“We have to underscore that the Aquino administration chose Hyundai as supplier of the two frigates. This means it will supply the boat, the navigation, the communications, and the combat management systems (CMS). It was also during the previous administration that Hyundai was declared the responsive bidder and awarded the two frigates, including the CMS,” he said.
Roque reiterated that “It is therefore futile for Special Assistant to the President Christopher Lawrence “Bong” Go to intervene in the choice of CMS as this was already included in the awarded frigates as part of the purchase price of P15.7 Billion. This proves that Rappler’s allegation against SAP Go is without legal and factual basis, Roque said.
“Rappler, once again, has peddled fake news,” he added.
Meanwhile, former Philippine Navy Flag Officer in Command Vice Admiral Joseph Mercado denied involvement in the SEC issue, which linked Bong Go to the controversial procurement of military equipment.
“There was never any mention of anybody, trying to influence or intervene at the Department of National Defense. basta ako when DND writes to me, it was from their point of view, and when we reply it was from the Philippine navy particularly the project management team members point of view so thats it, it was just a purely navy to dnd correspondence and you know communication, nabigla nga ako that all of the sudden..widened…other personalities,” Mercado said.
“Basta ako on my side only when I was FOIC. I’m very sure that secretary Bong never even raised the issue of the frigate in many occasions that we were together, magkasama ka nga kami sa mga you know sa foreign navy ships (but) he was not asking e about the frigate project, never”, he added.