Gazmin promised 7% cut

DEFENSE Secretary Voltaire Gazmin was allegedly set to receive 7 percent “commission” while other officials of the Department of National Defense (DND) would split 5 percent in exchange for awarding of the P1.2-billion helicopter supply contract to a favored bidder, a government employee who claims she was privy to the deal told senators on Tuesday.

Rhodora Alvarez, an employee of the Bureau of Internal Revenue who helped The Manila Times expose the allegedly anomalous transaction, said in her sworn statement to the Senate blue ribbon committee that she learned about the alleged “commission” in a “secret” meeting between DND Undersecretary Fernando Manalo and Robert Rice Jr, president of Rice Aircraft Services Inc. (RASI), inside the DND official’s office on November 4, 2013.