Mahindra PH issues statement on

PNP controversy
Says only 25 out of 1,656 Enforcer patrol cars are non-operational

Questions were raised when the PNP procured Mahindra Enforcers. PHOTO
FROM PHILIPPINE NATIONAL POLICE
Back in 2014, when news about Mahindra’s arrival in the Philippines first broke, there
were already talks that the local distributor (CAC Mahindra of Pepito Alvarez’s group)
was to supply patrol vehicles to the Philippine National Police. The rumor turned out
to be true, raising a lot of eyebrows over the fact that the country’s police force had
chosen an untested Indian brand over longtime suppliers like Toyota.

In the beginning, it was reported that Mahindra had won the bid for the PNP’s initial 560 -
unit requirement, having agreed to a per-unit price of P895,000. Later, it was revealed
that Mahindra was to deliver a total of 1,470 units to PNP, worth P1.3 billion. Today, as
you read this, it has been made known that CAC Mahindra ended up supplying the PNP
with P1.89 billion worth of vehicles. According to company president Felix Mabilog Jr.,
his firm has turned over a total of 1,656 units of the Enforcer and 398 units of the
Scorpio for use by our valiant cops.

Here’s the problem: The Commission on Audit has apparently flagged the series of
transactions for possible anomalies. As stated by Rappler in a July 4 article:

The COA said the PNP in the first tranche skipped an “operations needs assessment,” a
step the auditing body said is an “essential task in procurement planning.”

An “operations needs assessment” procedure is essentially auditing the needs of the

1. What and where will the vehicles be used for, and how many are needed?

2. What configurations of vehicles are needed?

3. Are spare parts and service centers easily accessible?

The COA pointed out that the PNP did not ask local police stations what they needed
before writing a recommendation to the DBM (Department of Budget and Management).
Instead, COA said, the PNP transmitted minimum requirements prescribed by the
National Police Commission (NAPOLCOM).
The standards set by the NAPOLCOM, COA said, were too low and “appeared to have
no reasonable basis as such would neither upgrade nor improve the agency’s current
inventory of patrol vehicles.”

Despite this flawed advisory from the PNP, the DBM went forward with the first tranche
of the multibillion-peso procurement with the questioned standards.

Even more troubling was the COA’s assessment that the vehicles were substandard,
revealing that these were unable to run faster than 100km/h, had “rusty engines” and
offered inadequate seating capacity, among other things. “The COA also spoke with
1,300 PNP personnel on the patrol vehicles and found out that 57.2% were
unsatisfied with the vehicles,” the Rappler article reported. “Only 15.96% were
satisfied, while the rest were undecided.”

To address the long-running controversy, CAC Mahindra has sent a statement to select
motoring media outlets, and we’d like to share the more salient points from it. Basically,
the statement can be summarized as follows: (1) the Mahindra vehicles passed te sts
conducted by the PNP and the DBM; and (2) the distributor has taken steps to ensure
the provision of spare parts and expert service for the patrol vehicles.

On the first point:

The Mahindra Enforcer has passed the rigid tests conducted by the Philippin e National
Police together with evaluators from the Department of Budget and Management as part
of the acceptance process prescribed in the bidding conditions.

The tests conducted were rigorous. The vehicles were made to run for five straight days
without turning the engines off. The roads [these vehicles] passed through were not all
concrete or paved. They went through mountainous areas in Benguet and the Mounta in
Province, and crossed rivers and streams in the Ilocos Region.

On the second point:

CAC Mahindra keeps regular maintenance records of the vehicles delivered to the
country’s police force as these are brought to the authorized service centers for
checkups and repairs. The company has also established four regional spare parts
depots in various locations in Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao to ensure immediate
availability of needed parts and support warranty demands. If parts are not available at
its regional stations, they are sent via airfreight within 24 hours from its central depot in
Manila or by sea within one week.

The company maintains more than P30 million worth of readily available spare parts for
both the Enforcer and Scorpio models, which is roughly equivalent to a 15-month
carrying inventory.
CAC has also created a special and dedicated service group, composed of five service
engineers, to cover all areas where the patrol vehicles were deployed. These engineers
have made regular visits or calls to their respective areas to monitor the performance of
the units. Mahindra has likewise deployed two mobile service vehicles to address urgent
service requirements.

In coordination with the PNP, Mahindra’s service engineers have conducted a total of
113 trainings all over the country for proper operation, maintenance and basic
troubleshooting. The company also entered into a partnership with Kia service centers
throughout the country to ensure that all delivered units could be regularly checked and
repaired.

On top of these, international service managers from India conduct periodical visits for
field training, units monitoring and performance evaluation.

Here perhaps is the telling part: While the COA report quoted “satisfaction” levels
among the police officers, CAC Mahindra presents actual figures with regard to the
patrol vehicles. According to the distributor, out of the 1,656 Enforcer units it has
supplied to the PNP, only 25 (1.5%) are non-operational. The company adds that the
breakdowns may be attributed to the following factors:

 Failure to bring the units to an authorized service center for routine preventive
maintenance (13);
 Road accidents (8); and
 Damage incurred from being “ambushed by criminal elements” (4).

In other words, the vehicles break down not because they’re of poor quality. They break
down because of negligence—at least according to CAC Mahindra. A conclusion that is
quite consistent with the PNP’s track record when it comes to looking after its vehicles.
The way some police officers treat their service cars, even an M4 Sherman tank
wouldn’t stand a chance.

Full disclosure: In 2016, CAC Mahindra lent me an Enforcer that was configured
for civilian use. The test unit even had a sign that read: “PNP TEST & EVALUATION.”
My findings at the time? Here are excerpts from my reviewpublished in The Manila
Times:
In a nutshell, the Enforcer feels very spartan, and its construction makes no pretensions
to the contrary. It looks like a poor man’s Land Rover Defender, and that’s part of its
basic appeal. From its steel wheels to its plastic-and-fabric interior, the Enforcer is
forthright in its mission statement: to bring its occupants to their destination with a
modicum of comfort and convenience.

The Enforcer for our market is powered by a 2.5-liter four-cylinder turbodiesel mated to
a five-speed manual transmission with a tall stick. Rated at 100hp and 240Nm, it feels
and sounds like an old Isuzu motor. Given the vehicle’s reason for being, this seems
adequate enough for the task at hand.
The cockpit is covered in cheap plastic, with its level of craftsmanship making it appear
like Mahindra hasn’t even heard of “fit and finish.” Then again, like I said, the Enfo rcer
has the appeal of such utilitarian vehicles as the Defender or even the Suzuki Samurai.
It’s not for wimps. It’s for crime-busters who have no need for Bluetooth connectivity and
dual-zone climate control.

The cabin’s only concession to “luxury” is a Kenwood audio head unit that plays MP3
files and accepts a jack plug. The air-conditioning vents and switchgear look like they
were sourced from two generations ago. Even the pull-out switch for the hazard lights
feels like a misplaced afterthought behind the steering wheel. Which only adds to the
manliness of the vehicle. The Enforcer is not for urbanized motorists, but it certainly has
an austere market it can competently serve.

The unit I tested was 4×4. Combine this with a ground clearance of 235mm and you
have a vehicle you can confidently navigate around Metro Manila even during the floody
season.

I spent a couple of weeks with the Enforcer, but there was no way for me to test the
vehicle’s long-term durability. Is the Enforcer ideal for private, personal use? Probably
not. Is it good enough for police duties? Yes, it is. Just keeping my fingers crossed that
it will at least live long enough to pay for itself.

Whom to believe: the “unsatisfied” police officers or the “conscientious” distributor?

UPDATE: CAC Mahindra president Felix Mabilog Jr. has sent us a revised tally of the
Mahindra patrol vehicles that went out of commission at some point. “The total number
of units that have been rendered inoperable as per our records is actually 40, all of
which are Enforcers. We have repaired 14 out of these 40 units, without cost to the PNP
even if said units are no longer covered by warranty. They were mostly damaged
because of accidents, floods, encounters with criminal elements or just failure to be
brought to our authorized workshops for preventive maintenance.”
How did Mahindra win bid for
1,470 PNP patrol units?
Even before Mahindra could turn over the first batch of Enforcer patrol units for Philippine National
Police's use, critics rushed to conclusions and hurled accusations of corruption against the Indian carmaker.
That the allocated budget for said patrol vehicles was P1.3 billion only fueled suspicions.
No official statement from CAC Mahindra, the distributor of the Indian automotive brand in the country, was
ever released. Broadcast journalist and former congressman Ted Failon even publicly questioned the result of
the PNP fleet bidding, which, by the way, was conducted by the Department of Budget and Management
(DBM), and not the PNP. The car distributor kept mum on the subject until the Enforcer patrol unit was
exhibited and made available for test drive at the general assembly of the League of Municipalities of the
Philippines on Thursday.
CAC Mahindra president Felix Mabilog Jr. graced the event, bared the company's plans to a select group of
motoring journalists, and finally spoke up to defend his company. With more than five recording devices
digitally filing away his every word, the executive denied that his company was a favored government supplier.
"Everybody doesn't like us," Mabilog said at one point. "Some of our competitors really spent money to put
down Mahindra. Check the bidding records. The vehicle requirements for bidding were adjusted three to four
times not for our benefit, but to put us at a disadvantage."

Known for being straightforward, Mabilog narrated how his company dealt with the changing requirements.
"We did our best to win this bidding," he said. "We thought it was a good opportunity to introduce the brand
since it is not yet well-known, although it has been around for some time."

Now, what exactly were the new requirements? Which prerequisites were altered or added, and why?

According to Mabilog, who has helmed various carmakers in the country, a firm should be at least 60%
Filipino-owned in order to be allowed to place a bid. Most bidders were dealers, and CAC Mahindra was
the only car distributor in the game.
Unlike the dealers who would have had to outsource the conversion of the vehicle body, CAC Mahindra--being
a distributor and not a dealer--was the only bidder with an assembly plant facility to have its patrol units' bodies
done locally in its factory.

"That was our advantage over our competitors," Mabilog said. "The Enforcer's bodies were factory-made here."
With the prospect of gaining a foothold in the market by winning the fleet bid, the company prepared for the
first bidding. It was postponed, however, due to supertyphoon Yolanda.

"Government officials realized that PNP vehicles couldn't traverse floods and couldn't climb up steep slopes,"
the septuagenarian boss said.

Logically, the engine capacity and the torque and horsepower requirements were increased. CAC
Mahindra's figures made the cut, but the other bidders' specs were not within "acceptable standards." Later, the
engine-specification prerequisites were once again changed.
"The required specs were then decreased," Mabilog revealed. "They lowered the required engine capacity,
horsepower and torque so as not to favor Mahindra, but to accommodate the two big players that initially didn't
make it."

When asked to name the two big players, the executive refused to identify them.

According to Mabilog, new conditions were also introduced to disqualify Mahindra from the bid. One such
requirement is that the vehicle brand should have at least a 10-year presence in the country. The CAC
Mahindra boss pointed out that Francisco Motors, which used to distribute Hyundai and Mazda automobiles in
the country, had also imported vehicles of the Indian brand. Moreover, he said that independent importers had
been bringing in Mahindra vehicles for their own use.
When Mahindra cleared this new prerequisite, another stipulation was included: The company should have a
"continuous presence" in the country, which meant bidders should have had at least one activity in the past year.
"Good thing they didn't know that I had been importing Mahindras since last year," Mabilog said.

So there. We got the chance to hear the side of the winning bidder. CAC Mahindra already has 30
units available for delivery. Once given the go-signal by DBM, the company is set to deliver 1,470
Enforcer patrol units from May to September this year.
25 Mahindra police cars in the region no longer usable

OF the 160 Mahindra police cars in Central Visayas, at least 25 are no longer usable.
This was revealed by Chief Supt. Debold Sinas, director of Police Regional Office in Central
Visayas (PRO-7).
Sinas said that even some of the remaining 135 Mahindra cars are already defective.
“Most common defects were air-conditioning, brakes, transmission among others,” said Sinas.
He added that the 25 dysfunctional cars are already beyond repair.
Despite this handicap however, Sinas said that his men can still operate effectively and conduct
patrols on a daily basis.
“But karon among Mahindra cars dili nana namo ipaadto og lagyo. Mga specific patrols lang ug dili
na pagukuron,” said Sinas.
(But right now these Mahindra cars are no longer for long travels. They are used only for specific
patrols and not to chase criminals)
The Mahindra cars, Sinas said, were distributed to PRO-7 right after the elections of 2016.
The PRO-7 conducted an inventory of the police cars after the Commission on Audit (COA)
flagged the PNP for purchasing over 2,000 units of Mahindra patrol cars worth P1.8 billion despite
its findings that they are deemed unfit for police operations.
COA said in its 2017 report, that Mahindra vehicles “pushed back the full attainment” of police
operations because the patrol jeeps broke down frequently.
The state audit agency also said no performance evaluation was conducted for 1,656 Mahindra
vehicles before purchasing an additional 206 units.
Sinas said that regional offices don’t have any hand in the purchase since they are only recipients of
said cars. He added that only Camp Crame has the authority to purchase the cars.
“Ako personally, ever since (I entered the service) Toyota, Mitsubishi ang mga sakyanan. Karon
lang ning Mahindra,” said Sinas.
(Ever since I entered the service, we only used Toyota and Mitsubishi. It was just last 2016 that we
had these Mahindra cars)
“As to its effectivity, dili nalang ko mag comment (I will not give any comment),” added Sinas.
COA flags PNP for purchasing of
P1.8-B worth of 'unfit' patrol vehicles
MANILA - The Commission on Audit (COA) has flagged Philippine National Police for purchasing over 2,000
patrol vehicles deemed unfit for police operations.

The 2017 COA report particularly flagged the 1,656 Mahindra Enforcer patrol units worth P1.5 billion and 398
Mahindra Scorpio light transport units worth P349 million, which the audit firm said were purchased without any
operations needs assessment.

The vehicles were worth P1.8 billion in 2015.

Records showed that the vehicles manufactured by the Indian company were purchased from the Columbian Autocar
Corporation under sa the PNP's Capability Enhancement Program in March and December 2015, during the previous
administration.

COA also noted that the minimum standard specifications for the vehicles, such as seating capacity, torque details,
and piston displacement capacity, were lowered, causing the recurring problems on acceleration and engine
performance, among others.

There are also no spare parts available for the vehicles in areas where the PNP conducts its operations, the report
said, adding that this caused a problem when the police joined the fight against terrorists in Marawi last year.

Citing a survey among uniformed and non-uniformed personnel, the audit report also said the patrol jeeps consume
too much fuel.

COA urged the PNP to issue a memorandum circular approved by the National Police Commission to answer the
issue on standard specifications.

The PNP is ready to cooperate with the COA and start a probe into the matter, Police Director Jose Maria Victor
Ramos, chief of the directorate for logistics said Monday.

Ramos added that the Office of the Ombudsman already launched a probe on the controversy. --report from Joyce
Balancio and Henry Atuelan, ABS-CBN News
COA says Mahindra Enforcer, Scorpio vehicles
unfit for PNP duty
It looks like the Philippine National Police’s (PNP) Mahindra Enforcer patrol
vehicles are proving to be more of a headache rather than being useful.
Apparently, all of the 1,656 Enforcer patrol units (as well as the 398 Scorpion
transport vehicles) were found to be ‘defective’ and ‘overpriced’ by the
Commission on Audit (COA).
Based on COA’s report, both the Enforcer and Scorpion vehicles were not
performing up to standard and were struggling to keep up with every day duties.
The minimum standard specifications (seating capacity, along with engine output
and displacement) meant it had slow acceleration and overall poor engine
performance. Beyond those, the patrol vehicles also lacked spare parts and have
bad fuel economy.
Purchased in 2015 for a total of Php 1.8 billion, all of the patrol vehicles were
bought by way of the PNP’s Capability Enhancement Program in March and
December of the same year. In review, the Mahindra Enforcer is powered by a
2.5-liter four-cylinder turbo-diesel engine that produces 101 PS and 240 Nm of
torque.
However, the PNP is pointing the blame of purchasing the said vehicles to the
Department of Budget and Management (DBM). According to PNP spokesperson
Senior Supt. Benigno Durana, they should not be faulted for the purchase of the
Mahindra vehicles as they only specified the necessary specifications.
“In fact, the purchase by the Mahindras was made by the procurement service of
the Department of Budget and Management. What we did is actually in
partnership with the National Police Commission (NAPOLCOM). We submitted
the specifications of the requirements that we need as far as transportation is
concerned. They approved it. That was the basis of the procurement of the
vehicles”, said Durana in a report.
Durana also added that COA’s report was based on findings submitted by the
PNP. He even mentioned that all the PNP did was follow standard procedure in
requesting of new patrol cars based on what was legal and allowed under the
specifications they needed.
With this development, the PNP has stated that they will cooperate with COA in
order to start a probe into the matter. Also, the Office of the Ombudsman have
also launched a separate probe on this procurement fiasco.
Senator Grace Poe files bill
seeking probe on PNP’s
P1.89-billion purchase of
Mahindra jeeps
Senator Grace S. Poe-Llamanzares has filed a bill seeking an investigation into the P1.89-
billion purchase of the Philippine National Police (PNP) of Indian car maker Mahindra
Vehicles’ police patrol jeeps back in 2015.

Senate Resolution No. 777, filed on July 3, directs the Senate Committees on
Accountability of Public Officers and Investigations and Public Order and Dangerous
Drugs to conduct the inquiry. The committees are led by Senators Richard J. Gordon and
Panfilo M. Lacson, respectively.

Ms. Llamanzares cited the findings of the Commission on Audit (CoA) in its 2017 annual
report, which concluded that the PNP’s patrol jeeps provided by Mahindra Vehicles were
not reliable for police operations, citing the complaints raised by several regional police
offices.

State auditors noted that 206 vehicles were not effectively utilized “due to frequent
breakdowns, poor after sales services, and limited availability of spare parts.”

A total of P59.379 million worth of additional costs were incurred by the PNP in the form of
service fees which “could have been otherwise used to acquire approximately 67 units of
patrol jeeps.”

Ms. Llamanzares has said she would invite former Interior Secretary Manuel A. Roxas II
and former Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Alan L. Purisima in the legislative
investigation to shed light on the issue. — Camille A. Aguinaldo