A BIDS and Awards Committee of the Department of National Defense has awarded the Aselsan A.S, an electronics defense firm based in Turkey, the P1.116-billion contract to purchase 4,464 night-vision monoculars worth P250,000 each.
The BAC, headed by retired general Assistant Secretary Ernesto Boac, said Aselsan tendered a bid of a little more than P700 million, P300 million lower than the bid of Armasight Enterprises last Thursday.
Aselsan was represented by Murat Unluturk, owner of the Defense Marketing Consultancy, associate Civan Uzcivanuglu and two others.
Aselsan’s local partner is System Nomics Philippines Inc. led by Alan Mendoza, who is also the subject of an arms smuggling case filed before the Ombudsman by Romulo Maningding, a former police general who became a defense contractor upon retirement.
Maningding’s lawsuit stemmed from a separate billion-peso contract on the purchase of fuses for heavy artillery that was awarded to another Turkish firm, Mechanical And Chemical Industry Corp., which allegedly used fake export licenses from the United States State Department.
In his complaint before the Ombudsman, Maningding claimed to be a former local representative of MKEK and its partner Defense Marketing Consultancy, until he exposed the use of the fake US licenses.
Also included in the charge sheet are Armed Forces of the Philippines chief of staff General Hernando Irriberi, AFP Deputy Chief of Staff for Logistics Brig. Gen. Job Yucoco and Chief Supt. Elmo Francis Sarona Philippine National Police Firearms and Explosive Office.
Also charged were MKEK export manager Gulderen Baglacer, MKEK marketing director Hasan Sahan, Eduard Del Mundo of the Caballo Negro Industriya Corp., another MKEK representative; and several John Does.