By Macon Ramos Araneta

Barely a week into March, which is fire prevention month, the firemen?s bureau is already in the hot seat.

A party-list lawmaker accused officials of the Bureau of Fire Prevention of entering into a highly irregular deal for the purchase of 37 fire trucks in 2007 and 2008.

There was no public bidding in violation of the law on government procurement, Bayan Muna Rep. Teddy Casi?o said in a privilege speech.

The fire trucks, valued at P342 million, were acquired through direct contracting which raised the possibility of overpricing, he said. Budget Department and other officials may have also had a hand in the irregular purchases, Casi?o said.

?Apparently, the lack of a public bidding for these fire trucks allowed the contractor and his friends in the BFP, DILG, and DBM to increase the price with impunity,? Casi?o said.

Casi?o said 13 of the 37 fire trucks came from a single contractor?Anos Research Manufacturing located at 4 Apo St. corner Quezon Ave., Sta. Mesa, Manila.

?But we are still establishing the name of the owner of this firm although I learned from my colleagues in the House that Anos is a known supplier of fire trucks, and has several connections in the Senate and House,? Casi?o told Standard Today.

A certain Ms. Garcia signed the vouchers for the purchase of fire trucks, Casi?o said. ?We are not sure if she is the proprietor of the fire truck supplier. We are still establishing ownership.?

Following his expos?, the House plenary ordered the committees on good government and public order and safety to investigate the allegations.

Bureau officer-in-charge Rolando Bandilla said he had instructed the agency?s legal department to answer point-by-point the issues raised by Casi?o. Bandilla said the purchases were made by his predecessor.

Casi?o said 33 units of fire trucks have 1,000-gallon capacity; two units, 300 gallon; and another two units, 600 gallon.

The 10 fire trucks bought for P9.75 million each in September 2008 may have been overpriced by 100 percent, Casi?o said.

?According to my sources, if these were acquired through open bidding, the price would have been around P5 million only,? he said.

Casi?o cited for example the 1,000-gallon fire trucks that were initially priced at P6.7 million in 2007. After an initial purchase of three units in early 2007, the price increased to P8.8 million in a matter of two months.

By March 2008, the price had escalated to more than P9 million each and by September 2008, the BFP bought 10 units at an astonishing price of almost P10 million each.

While direct contracting under Republic Act 9184 or the Government Procurement Act is allowed, this however did not apply to the purchase of the fire trucks.

The conditions for direct contracting are the following: when the items are proprietary and can be obtained only from one source; when the purchase of the item is a condition precedent for a contractor to guarantee project performance and when the item is sold by an exclusive dealer or manufacturer which does not have sub-dealers selling at lower prices and for which no suitable substitute can be obtained at more advantageous germs to the government.