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Tuesday, October 12, 2004
Suspended military general snubs House inquiry
MANILA -- A military general accused of amassing unexplained wealth failed to show up in the House of Representatives investigation on alleged graft and corruption in the military.
Suspended Major General Carlos Garcia reportedly suffered chest pains and is presently confined at the University of Sto. Tomas (UST) Hospital in Manila.
Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) Vice Chief Ariston delos Reyes, who represented AFP Chief Narciso Abaya in the hearing, informed the House committee on defense chaired by Paranaque City Rep. Roilo Golez that Garcia was rushed to the hospital Sunday night after he complained of severe chest pains.
He presented to the House panel a medical certificate, indicating therein Garcia's real condition.
Golez got irked by Garcia's no-show and asked the House medical officers to coordinate with the UST hospital and verify the state of the beleaguered military general.
The committee postponed the House inquiry until Garcia recovers from his illness.
The AFP suspended Garcia after the Office of the Ombudsman found out that he possesses wealth disproportionate to his income as a military official.
Aside from Garcia, retired Navy Commodore Rex Robles of the Feliciano commission who was tasked by President Arroyo to conduct lifestyle check on all government officials, revealed that there are two other Armed Forces generals and three Cabinet-rank officials who are under investigation by American authorities for having huge dollar deposits.
He however did not name the five government officials in his report.
Robles was also invited by the House defense committee in the hearing but he did not appear for unknown reasons.
Destabilization
At the Senate, Defense Undersecretary for Operations Antonio Santos said there are some groups that allegedly use the issue of graft and corruption in the Armed Forces to agitate young officers to stage another destabilization plot.
However, Santos refused to divulge other information on the alleged plot in a Senate hearing on corruption in the military.
He instead asked for an executive session with the senators so he can reveal more about the alleged plot.
"It has come to my attention that some groups are meeting and saying they will make a big issue out of this, and maybe use this as a vehicle to agitate young officers," Santos said.
Santos, a former intelligence officer of the Intelligence Service of the Armed Forces of the Philippines, said however that it is an intelligence report that still needs to be verified.
Sen. Rodolfo Biazon, chairman of the Senate committee on national defense, asked the Armed Forces leadership to preempt the move.
Among the suggestions of Biazon is for the Armed Forces to continue taking the pulse of the soldiers and take initial action like solving the problem of graft and corruption in the AFP.
Biazon said the Senate would no longer conduct a separate investigation since the House of Representatives is already conducting one on the issue.
He suggested a joint congressional inquiry so that there would be bicameral conclusion.
Crackdown
Meanwhile, a crackdown on alleged corruption among generals in the armed forces could help President Arroyo get a handle on a restive military and prevent future revolts, officials and analysts said.
But it could mean walking a tightrope for Arroyo, who partly owes her political survival to generals who helped her to the presidency by backing a popular uprising in 2001 and crushing a mutiny by junior officers in 2003.
Ombudsman Simeon Marcelo on Friday ordered Garcia to explain in writing within 10 days why he should not be charged in court for corruption.
Prosecutors said his net worth, believed to be in excess of a million dollars, was far more than what his modest salary of around 37,000 pesos (about 657 dollars) a month could support.
The military was tipped off about the general's alleged corruption earlier this year when US authorities detained one of his sons at a San Francisco airport for failing to declare 100,000 dollars in cash he was carrying.
Another officer and former head of the military's budget division, Lieutenant-Colonel George Rabusa, is being investigated for assets said to top 50 million pesos (888,000 dollars).
Arroyo last year survived a mutiny by about 300 junior officers who took over the Oakwood apartment-hotel that housed diplomats and foreigners at Manila's Makati financial district.
They demanded that the president as well as senior officers step down, charging them with corruption.
The mutineers alleged that officers lined their pockets while soldiers died on the field fighting insurgents armed with weapons allegedly procured from the state armory.
They told of government troops dying without boots on and because the few helicopters in the command were being used to ferry generals to golf courses. (JFF/JMR/AFP)
(October 12, 2004 issue)
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