Why JV Ejercito used calamity fund to buy guns

MANILA - Senator Joseph Victor "JV" Ejercito confirmed Tuesday that he tapped into San Juan's calamity funds to purchase high-powered firearms in 2008 because of an "emergency situation" in the city.

Ejercito, the former mayor of San Juan, also said the P2.1-million used to purchase the firearms was later returned.

Ejercito said that in 2006, the Philippine National Police released a memorandum to retrieve all high-powered rifles of the policemen in Metro Manila. This consequently led to thieving and bank robberies as the culprits have stronger ammunition than the police.

To remedy this, he said he conferred with city administrators and told them "we really need to purchase high-powered rifles for our police force as soon as possible."

"I panicked. I called the administrator. I said we can't allow this to happen any longer, we need to purchase high powered rifles for our police force ASAP. They told me it's not in our budget. I told them 'Do what you can. This is an emergency situation.' The only fund available was the calamity fund," he said on Headstart on Tuesday.

Of the estimated P35-million calamity fund, P2.1-million was used to buy 20 high-powered firearms from HK Technical Defense System Inc. The procurement included three units of Daewoo K2 caliber 5.56mm sub-machine gun and 17 units of Daewoo model K1 caliber 5.56mm sub-machine gun.

Ejercito said the purchase underwent proper bidding and was published online and in daily newspapers.

He said some time between 2007 and 2008, the Commission on Audit (COA) issued an Audit Observation Memo in relation to the procurement.

"They called our attention and said we cannot use calamity fund to purchase firearms—that's illegal," he said.

He then asked the city council to include 'firearms purchase' in the following supplemental budget hearing and was granted such. The budget from 2009 then was used to replenish the nicked calamity fund.

"I’m not a lawyer, I’m not a CPA, and the same goes with all the other heads of agencies. So they (COA) give you the chance to rectify or correct if something is wrong," he said.

"Before the year ended, before the books were closed as far as COA is concerned, there was nothing irregular because the calamity fund was already intact," he added.

The 20 rifles, he said, are all still intact and are being used by San Juan Police.

POLITICIZED VERDICT?

The Sandiganbayan's Fifth Division earlier ordered the arrest of Ejercito and five others for their graft cases. The senator has since posted bail.

READ: JV Ejercito posts bail, says Zamoras behind case

He said he has told his lawyer not to "dribble the case" and to expedite the process because he wants to clear his name as soon as possible.

"From what the Ombudsman submitted to the Sandiganbayan, it seems that they did not consider all our arguments, which we feel are very strong evidence and arguments for our case," he said.

The timing, he said, is really suspect. He said the issue could be connected to local politics.

He observed that no cases were filed against him before this even when he was a prominent figure in the opposition during the administration of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.

Although he was prohibited by his lawyer from airing speculations, Ejercito said "being arraigned together with my cousin yesterday supposedly was too much of a coincidence."

He was pertaining to former Laguna Governor ER Ejercito whose arrest has since been ordered after failing to attend his arraignment for a graft case.

READ: Sandiganbayan orders ER Ejercito's arrest

PANAMA PAPERS INCLUSION

Aside from these graft charges, Ejercito also answered his inclusion in the Panama Papers.

He maintained that his name appeared probably because of his involvement with several corporations before.

"I was not mayor; I was still in business and I was involved in different international corporations. That’s probably the reason that my name cropped up: because I was made the director of one international company."

He said he does not have any personal offshore accounts and all his properties—in and out the country—are declared in his statement of liabilities and networth (SALN).

He added, "that's the hard thing about being in politics."

"All the good things you do go unnoticed; but if there’s one negative, that remains already in you," he said.

-with reports from Carolyn Bonquin, ABS-CBN News