Something was wrong with the Mahindra jeep

It wasn’t surprising for me to hear that the Commission on Audit (COA) questioned the problems plaguing the Made-in-India Mahindra jeeps that were given to the Philippine National Police (PNP), bought at the time of Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) Sec. Manuel “Mar” Roxas. I can’t forget writing a column in this corner questioning the sale of those Mahindra jeeps, which were in reality more expensive than if the DILG got the famous Toyota Fortuner instead. I mean, if I wanted to buy something that would be good for our police, the Toyota Fortuner may have been an expensive proposition, but it was quite surprising for me that they got those Mahindra jeeps at a cost higher than the Fortuner.

So now we found out from Sen. Grace Poe that there would be a congressional investigation of this highly questionable purchase and former DILG Sec. Manuel “Mar” Roxas and former PNP chief Alan Purisima would be invited to this hearing. Indeed as Sen. Poe pointed out, a transaction of this magnitude could not push through without the approval of the DILG, which has operational supervision of the PNP.

As the COA clearly pointed out, some P1.8 billion was used to purchase more than 2,000 units of these patrol jeeps in 2015. That was the time we questioned this purchase on a per unit basis, but then no one else complained except this writer. So when the COA and the police officers that use these vehicles complained (I heard many such complaints on TV) I said to myself that I was right in questioning this deal from day one!

Again, I would like to reiterate to Sen. Grace Poe that during that investigation, she should first find out each vehicle’s cost as compared to a Toyota Fortuner and from there you will surely find out there might have been some kind of deal that the DILG or the PNP hierarchy hatched with the Indian dealer of Mahindra. At this point, we laud the federal government of Malaysia for arresting former Malaysia Prime Minister Najib Razak last Wednesday. Razak was charged with three counts of criminal breach of trust and one count of using his position for gratification. These offenses were allegedly carried out between 2011 and 2015.

Malaysia is a member of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and it is high time for our political leaders from all sides of the political fence to accept the reality today that corruption can no longer be tolerated, especially from those with the power of approving monies for projects. Hence, we laud Sen. Poe for inviting former DILG Sec. Mar Roxas and former PNP chief Alan Purisima to explain their side in this Mahindra investigation. I’m sure that this congressional investigation would be a very interesting one. Abangan!

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While watching ABS-CBN news, I have to salute Philippine National Police (PNP) Director General Oscar Albayalde for giving the public a very thorough explanation on how the PNP was able to solve the murder of Fr. Richmond Nilo who was murdered in Nueva Ecija only last June 10 in a chapel in Barangay Mayamot, Zaragoza, Nueva Ecija by motorcycle riding gunmen. The murder followed those of Fr Mark Ventura on April 29 and Fr Marcelito Paez, on Dec. 4, 2017. Since the beginning of 2018, 18 Catholic priests have been killed in the world, on average one every nine days. This news is not good for us Filipinos many of whom are Catholics.

But thanks to proper and obviously professional sleuthing, Director General Albayalde announced that aside from identifying the gunman in the killing of Fr. Nilo, they have identified the businessman who hired the hitmen and the police arrested Omar Mallari alias “Bulik” as the triggerman. He was hired by Manuel Torres whom the two suspected triggermen admitted before the police.

Director General Albayalde disclosed that it all started when a seminarian named Christopher Torres was charged for allegedly sexually abusing four minor altar servers of Fr. Nilo. This was reported by Gen. Albayalde that Fr. Nilo had helped the victims pressed charges against the seminarian, including a rape case. This report apparently caused the failure of the seminarian to become a priest, plus he was facing criminal charges.

Hence the uncle of the seminarian, Christopher Torres fumed over the fact that his seminarian relative could not become a priest anymore and hired the hit men to kill Fr. Nilo. Case closed? Not so fast. The PNP still has to find out who murdered Fr. Marcelino Paez last Dec.4, 2017 and Fr. Mark Ventura last April 29, 2018. At least we now know that the killing of our priests is not drug related… but the solution to their murders is very important for the PNP to solve so that we Catholics know that priests are not being targeted by the government.

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