Latest anomalies and corruption cases in the AFP
Forty bank accounts containing millions of pesos and 53 luxury vehicles. Remitting $886,957 or almost P50 million (at the exchange rate of $1 =P56) to the US to pay for a New York condominium that his son had bought. Another incidence of remitting $100,000 or P5.6 million to the US to support the luxuries and ostentatious lifestyle of his wife and sons who live there. Expensive houses in Metro Manila and Baguio, a luxury resort, recreation centers and a plantation in Iloilo.
These are just some of the scandalous details regarding the ill-gotten wealth of Maj. Gen. Carlos Garcia, AFP comptroller from 2001 to 2003. His fellow generals have long been aware of these anomalies. The public, however, had only come to know about them recently when the US announced the apprehension of one of Garcia's sons for failing to declare the amount of $100,000 he was hand-carrying into the country last year. Even then, Garcia's wife already shamelessly admitted that the amount had come from the "gratitude money" they had received from private contractors that the AFP dealt with.
No one believes that it is only Garcia who lives off the AFP's funds. He administered AFP funds and resources together with the incumbent AFP chief of staff and had served as comptroller under five generals.
The AFP is trying very hard to cover up the fact that Garcia had reportedly made a list of generals and legislators who benefited from AFP funds under his term. AFP officials themselves admit to routinely releasing funds for politicians, such as what Garcia did in the last election, when he released funds for a certain presidential candidate.
AFP officials, and even the regime, are frantically trying to prevent further expos�s of the anomalies and cases of corruption and plunder in the armed forces in the face of the scandal involving Garcia.
One of those whose wealth had questionably increased is Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) Secretary Gen. Angelo Reyes, who then served as secretary of the Department of Defense. It may be recalled that plunder case proceedings against him ground to a halt last year when he resigned his position. His statement of assets and liabilities alone indicate that his assets had grown by P4.1 million from 2002 to 2003. In the same period, he was able to have a house built worth P10 million and purchase two restaurants in Bulacan and Cebu City.
In addition to Reyes, two other generals in Arroyo's cabinet have been identified as "beneficiaries" of AFP funds. Also in the list of generals who have been spiriting way dollars abroad and living luxurious lifestyles are Arroyo's Executive Secretary Gen. Eduardo Ermita and Gen. Leandro Mendoza, secretary of the Department of Transportation and Communication (DOTC). Reyes, Ermita and Mendoza are now under investigation by American authorities regarding the huge dollar accounts they have been maintaining in the US.
Other anomalies and cases of corruption and plunder:
- One general was able to amass more than P400 million only within his last four years in the AFP, according to Ret. Com. Rex Robles, a member of the Feliciano Commission. The Feliciano Commission was tasked with investigating the complaints of junior officers who participated in a protest action last year against widespread corruption in the military.
- Generals in Mindanao pocket up to P534 million worth of funds intended for the rice subsidies of AFP troops in Mindanao. Thus, the troops have not received their rice rations since January. The same generals also receive kickbacks from the funds that the US provides for the Balikatan military exercises. This is according to two congressmen who have also now begun investigating other anomalies and cases of corruption in the AFP in Mindanao.
- Two generals have been charged with falsifying their birth certificates to enable them to extend their stay in the AFP by another three years and amass more ill-gotten wealth.
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