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MANILA,
Philippines—Some P160 million “pabaon” (send-off money) was allotted to
then Armed Forces of the Philippines Chief of Staff Diomedio Villanueva
when he retired in May 2002, whistle-blower George Rabusa said Monday.
The former military budget officer said he withdrew P10 million 16
times for Villanueva on orders of his boss, then military comptroller
Carlos Garcia.
Rabusa said he delivered the money to Garcia, who he assumed turned this over to Villanueva.
“I gave everything to him. The amount totaled P164 million, including
a P4-million interest. He was the one who gave it to Villanueva,” he
said of Garcia in a phone interview.
Rabusa said he had kept copies of certifications from a manager of
Security Bank on the deposits and withdrawals he made with the bank
before the Anti-Money Laundering Act was enacted.
Rabusa declined to say how much retirement money Roy Cimatu, who
replaced Villanueva, received, saying he would disclose this at the
Senate blue ribbon committee’s resumption of its hearing scheduled for
this week.
In a TV interview, he said Villanueva and Cimatu received more than
P50 million in send-off money, but did not specify the figures.
Villanueva was AFP chief of staff for 14 months (from March 2001 to May
2002) and Cimatu for just four months (from May 2002 to September 2002).
Standard practice
Rabusa, however, confirmed that like Angelo Reyes, the predecessor of
Villanueva and Cimatu, the two generals received P5 million in monthly
take as part of the standard practice.
Rabusa said at a Senate hearing last week that Reyes’ office also
received another P5 monthly, which Reyes did not necessarily pocket as
the amount was for office needs.
At the committee’s inquiry into the plea bargain between government
prosecutors and retired Major General Garcia on the latter’s plunder
case, Rabusa divulged the military practice of paying off the top brass.
Payola pot
Drawn from a payola pot, called provisions for command-directed
activities (PCDA), the payoffs were given on a monthly basis and upon
their retirement to key officials, including himself, he said.
On top of the monthly P5 million, Reyes was gifted P50 million when
he retired in March 2001 after just 20 months in office. Villanueva and
Cimatu had P10 million start-up fund each, according to Rabusa.
Rabusa said at the Senate hearing last week that he had converted almost P1 billion for the payola pot or slush fund.
Other beneficiaries
Other purported beneficiaries of the fund were the Office of the AFP
Vice Chief of Staff (P1.5 million plus P300,000 a month), deputy chief
of staff (P1.5 million a month), and the secretary of the joint chiefs
of staff (P1 million a month), according to Senate President Pro Tempore
Jinggoy Estrada.
Other recipients were the senior military aide to then President
Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, military auditor, House legislative officer,
retired generals, defense press corps, surgeon general, chief nurse,
janitors and gardeners.
Pocketing over P20 million
As budget officer from 2000 to 2002, Rabusa said he had been given
the “discretion to spend” by both Garcia and Jacinto Ligot, the
comptroller just before Garcia, and admitted to getting more than P20
million from the PCDA.
“It’s not less than P20 million, but this won’t reach P50 million.
After all, I wasn’t the main actor, only a supporting actor,” he said.
When his stint as military budget officer ended in 2002, Rabusa said
he had five boxes of documents burned to cover up fund misuse and keep
the image of Armed Forces chiefs of staff squeaky clean.
Copies of burned papers
By a stroke of luck, Rabusa managed to keep copies of the burned
documents somewhere else, which he is now presenting in the Senate and
the Department of Justice to back his expose on corruption in the Armed
Forces.
The documents, including fund receipts, will stand in court and will be sufficient to convict military officials, he said.
“I was the one who suggested to my boss, [Maj.] General [Jacinto]
Ligot, to burn all these things. We might get into trouble. After that,
we informed Secretary Reyes that everything had been fixed (naayos na
lahat),” he said on the phone.
Two weeks of burning
It took two weeks “to burn everything,” he said.
Estrada, who had been approached by Rabusa’s lawyer on his testimony, confirmed this account to reporters.
“He had one box of documents left. But he had burned many,” he told
reporters. “I think he has a lot of goods left. He has a lot of
ammunition left. Maybe against Secretary Reyes or the other generals
concerned.”
Receipts
Rabusa later found out that he had kept “thousands of copies” of the
burned documents, including “fund receipts” in connection with the
military’s use of the PCDA funds.
“These are simple receipts signed by this and that. I will be naming
names of the signatories, and some of the beneficiaries of the PCDA
controlled by the chief of staff,” he said.
Drag down Garcia, Ligot
These pieces of evidence would “further drag down” Garcia and Ligot, both facing charges in court, Rabusa said.
“Maybe,” he replied when asked if this would pin down Reyes, Villanueva and Cimatu. “Let’s just wait for the hearing.”
Rabusa said the documentary evidence would stand in court and be
sufficient to convict officials. He, however, said he had no knowledge
if then President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo was aware of this standard
practice of payoffs to the top brass.
Sonny Lim
Rabusa’s then subordinate, Col. Antonio “Sonny” Lim, could
corroborate his testimony on the delivery of the dollar equivalent of
P50 million to Reyes at the defense department’s White House, according
to Estrada.
“While seated at the roundtable, Reyes asked his guests what kind of
future awaits him after his retirement. Rabusa, Lim, [Ligot], answered
him, ‘Perhaps, you’d become SND (Secretary of National Defense).’ That’s
what he got after he retired,” Estrada said. “That was what Colonel
Rabusa narrated to me.”
After the meeting, Reyes handed envelopes to Ligot and Rabusa,
according to Estrada, who disclosed that the envelope for Rabusa
contained $10,000.
Estrada said he would also request the blue ribbon committee to invite Lim to the next hearing.
Meeting with Reyes
Rabusa said he went to the house of Reyes in Taguig City on Jan. 22
to brief him on the “budget cycle” for the then upcoming blue ribbon
committee hearing. After hours of briefing that lasted into the night,
Rabusa said Reyes later handed him P10,000.
At the time, Reyes had no inkling Rabusa would also appear at the same inquiry.
Through their common lawyer, Rabusa said he had been asked to help Estrada formulate questions for Reyes at Thursday’s hearing.
Both Estrada and Rabusa shrugged off the complaint filed by Reyes in
the Ombudsman, saying he had the right to do this and that they would
answer this at the proper time.
Estrada gave reporters a glimpse of his statement at the committee
hearing on Jan. 27 when he disclosed that he had documents showing that
Reyes’ wife Teresita and Ligot’s wife Erlinda made travels abroad using
military funds.
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