Press Release
May 19, 2015

SEN. JV TO PROBE DEFENSE OFFICIALS ON TERMINATED CHOPPER DEAL

Senator JV Ejercito is set to probe Defense officials involved in the procurement of 21 UH-1 helicopters on Wednesday morning (May 20), as the Blue Ribbon joint with National Defense Security, and Finance Committees resume its hearing on the controversial 1.2-Billion peso helicopter deal and the status of other big ticket projects under the AFP Modernization Program.

Senator Ejercito is author of Senate Resolution No. 1238, which seeks for the Blue Ribbon Committee to conduct an inquiry, in aid of legislation, on the anomalous and terminated purchase of 21 UH-1 helicopters by the Department of National Defense (DND).

Among the invited resource persons for Wednesday's probe are heads and members of the DND Special Bids and Awards Committee-1 chaired by Undersecretary Fernando Manalo, DND Technical Working Group chaired by BGen. Conrado V. Parra Jr., DND Technical Inspection and Acceptance Committee chaired by Col. Dino C. Diño, and Budget Secretary Florencio Abad as Government Procurement and Policy Board head.

Representatives from the Joint Venture supplier namely Mr. Robert Rice Jr., President of Rice Aircraft Services Inc. (RASI) and Mr. Mike O'Reilly of Eagle Copters Inc. are also invited to the hearing. The Blue Ribbon Committee sent an invitation as well to Bureau of Internal Revenue employee Ms. Rhodora Alvarez, as the former local representative of RASI and as the reported whistleblower of the chopper deal.

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