MANILA, Philippines -- Two administration congressmen have asked government to put on hold the public bidding for eight fire trucks worth P50 million which they claimed will be a prelude for the purchase by the Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP) of 150 more fire trucks costing billions of pesos.

Reps. Angelo B. Palmones (Agham Party-list) and Romeo M. Acop (NPC, Antipolo City) said the BFP must await the results of a congressional investigation into the questionable purchase before pursuing the public bidding.

The appeal of the two solons is contained in separate letters sent to the BFP bids and awards committee which is currently preparing for the public bidding of the fire trucks.

Palmones and Acop said the congressional inquiry into the fire truck purchases will be conducted by the House Committee on Public Order chaired by Rep. John Pablo Garcia (NUP, Cebu).

In his letter, Palmones urged the BFP to suspend the bidding for eight unites of 1,500 gallons of imported Power Take Off (PTO) fire trucks in deference to the investigation, saying that the agency should observe “prudence.”

Earlier, Palmontes filed a resolution calling for an investigation in the BFP’s alleged “questionable circumstance behind the change of the technical specifications” of the trucks to be bidded out and which allegedly tended to favor imported fire trucks.

Palmones also sought for an investigation of reports saying that the brand of imported PTO fire trucks to be bought has “no certified PTO technician” to attend to them in case of breakdown, unlike locally made fire trucks which can be immediately repaired and replaced for continued use.

“I hope our BFP Chief Rolando Bandilla Jr. and his officials are aware that they are virtually playing with fire and with peoples’ lives. As a country with a serious shortage of serviceable fire trucks, we cannot afford to have the few fire trucks running idle just because we have to wait for broken parts and PTO technicians to come to the country and repair the trucks,” Palmones said. (Ben Rosario)