Angelo Reyes: ‘Wala na ito, pare'

“Wala na ito, pare. There is a program to eat me.”

MANILA, Philippines - The late Angelo Reyes would utter these words again and again to his longtime friend and Academy upperclassman, retired Navy Commodore Rex Robles, in the days following the first Senate testimony of Reyes’s former budget officer, retired Lt. Col. George Rabusa.

Reyes felt the die was cast, and that the ongoing inquiry would not just drag the military but his entire family down. “He was depressed,” Robles told Newsbreak.

The Senate hearing yesterday particularly singled out Reyes’s wife, Teresita, who was a close friend of another military wife, Erlinda Ligot. They were known ballroom dancing and traveling partners.

As someone who has his own intelligence network, Reyes knew that in due time, the investigation will bring out even “personal details” about his family, according to Robles.

After lunch also yesterday, Robles said Reyes got a call from former President Arroyo, apparently asking him about what he was planning to do in the wake of the investigation.

In particular, Robles said Mrs. Arroyo asked Reyes about a supposed letter he had sent to Sen. Antonio Trillanes last year, challenging the senator to name names and identify already the “man” behind former military comptroller Carlos Garcia. That letter was hand-delivered to Trillanes by a Trillanes classmate at the Philippine Military Academy, according to Robles.

It’s Robles’s theory that there is another “powerful Arroyo man” behind Garcia. But Trillanes has already said repeatedly it was Reyes.

Following Rabusa’s first appearance at the Senate, Reyes was “just gloomy” and refused to leave his home, according to Robles.

“Hawak nila ang lahat. Wala na ito (They control everything. I have reached a dead-end),” Reyes would constantly tell Robles.

Reyes and Robles go a long way. Robles, who graduated in 1965 at the Philippine Military Academy, was Reyes’s “yearling,” a PMA lingo for an upper class cadet assigned to take care of a cadet one batch younger.

Robles said he tried to put things in perspective for the retired chief of staff, reminding him of the book that Reyes himself had given to him titled “Gamesmanship.”

One option they discussed was for Reyes to call for an executive session, a closed-door hearing with the senators and congresspersons. But even that did not seem palatable to Reyes.

Robles said he told Reyes it would help if he considered this episode as a “game” and that “he should play along with it.”

“But I saw darkness, that he felt it was a dead-end for him,” Robles said. He would always say, "wala na ito, tapos na ito.” – Glenda M. Gloria, Newsbreak

THE LOWLY FILIPINO SOLDIER, WHAT NOW?



LIKE MAFIA GODFATHERS

(This is a reprint of a Newsbreak article written by an officer of the Army who died in 2005. I met this intelligent person in a flight to Pagadian where we were seated together. I never knew him then as we engaged in an intelligent discussion about the government. Few days later, I saw him in the Tabak Division Officers' Club with his father, the former Commanding General of the Tabak Division, Raymundo Jarque who is now with the New Peoples' Army(NPA). It is just unfortunate that Rene, a West Point graduate, the writer is now in another world when all he wrote hereunder were exposed today during a Senate hearing, i just wish that the expose will lead us to something concrete. Trillanes was right after all. )

By RENE JARQUE

Something is terribly amiss when soldiers have to buy their own medicines because military hospitals don’t have enough, and lieutenants use their salary to buy provisions when rations fall short. And it is criminal when this is happening while the generals and senior officers in Manila enjoy generous allowances for personal expenses.

These allowances, also called IP or Incentive Pay, are taken from the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) budget and illegally converted to cash. The higher the rank, the higher the IP. Offices with big budgets also give sizeable allowances such as J3 (Operations, with a huge Cafgu budget), J-6 (Comptroller, which controls the fund releases), and J2 (Intelligence, with its non-accountable funds). Some officers even consider the “IP factor” in their choice of assignment.

Foreign travel is another source of pocket money. It’s SOP for an officer going on schooling or official business abroad to call on offices for pabaon. The more offices, the more money he can collect, sometimes enough to buy a car or house. Pabaon is part of the booty in a well-funded office, and even if an officer is unqualified or not needed for a trip, he is allowed to go because it is his turn to “enjoy and earn.”

This allowance system has existed for a long time, at the headquarters of the Army, Navy, and Air Force, the general headquarters in Camp Aguinaldo, and the Department of National Defense. All chiefs of staff, many of whom have become department secretaries, congressmen, and senators, are aware of this system, and they tolerate, even promote it. They were or are, in fact, principal beneficiaries. This stipend scheme is reckless and immoral as every peso allowance the generals get means less for the soldier—fewer combat boots, medicines, bullets. It is corruption in disguise and must be stopped.

In the cases of Maj. Gen. Carlos Garcia and Col. George Rabusa, both members of the comptroller family, the trail of corruption goes way up to former generals, Cabinet members, and even lawmakers who use the AFP as a conduit for their pork barrel. Even if prosecuted, the two may only end up as sacrificial pawns to protect the other generals and politicians who, like Mafia godfathers, cover up the crimes of the organization.

The case will be a test for President Arroyo and the AFP on how far they will go to curb corruption in the military, an often-cited reason for destabilization and coup attempts. Given the political risks and the influential personalities involved, we can expect flippant efforts, cover-ups and story spinning. Will the generals allow the prosecution of one of their own who was caught for a crime that everyone is guilty of?

The chain of command may not realize it now as they are busy orchestrating damage control, but I believe that the AFP again finds itself in a crossroad in the battle against corruption and unprofessionalism. Whatever actions are taken and what happens to the investigation of the Garcia-Rabusa case will determine the direction and tempo of reform in the future. If nothing comes of it, the opportunity will be lost again and corruption will continue.

There have been crossroads in the past. Edsa 1 and Edsa 2 failed to reform the AFP. There was the AFP Modernization Program, which never took off, and the case involving the Retirement Service and Benefits System wherein the generals used the soldiers’ retirement fund for imprudent investments that lined their pockets. Another was the investigation into the construction of the AFP theater in Camp Aguinaldo; the money could have been better used to modernize a dilapidated hospital. And recently, the Feliciano Commission that was created after the 2003 Oakwood mutiny. Still, there have been no serious efforts at reform. It seems that AFP reform has always lain outside the radar screen of the commanders in chief since Edsa 1 and they are fully accountable for this negligence.

In this age of information and social responsibility, the military stands as an anachronism, a relic of martial law. It continues to be irresponsible and corrupt. Many of the unprofessional and unethical practices during martial law still exist; almost certainly a major factor is that the chiefs of staff and the senior officers are holdovers from the Marcos era.

It is the hope of many honest soldiers that the Garcia-Rabusa case will be used as an occasion to genuinely tackle corruption in the military, to restore the honor and dignity of the military profession and the organization. The wholesale corruption in the AFP, symbolized by the allowance system, must be purged once and for all so that it can truly become professional.

The Filipino people expect no less. We are no longer in the martial law days when information and the media were controlled. Filipinos now are more informed, even more opinionated, and, looking at the two Edsa revolts, less tolerant of crooked governance. For a better Armed Forces and for our country’s future, I hope that President Arroyo, as commander in chief, will have the political will to stop this nonsense or this might well obliterate the already sagging morale of the soldiers, fuel large-scale discontent in the ranks, and cause her eventual downfall. 

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The author was an AFP officer and a graduate of West Point. He died in August 2005. GET TO KNOW RENE JARQUE HERE.

FORMER GENERAL RAYMUNDO JARQUE

INTELLIGENCE FUNDS, FAVORITE SOURCE OF CORRUPTION IN LOCAL GOVERNMENT UNITS

Annually, each local government unit frames their respective budget that will be used for their operations for the succeeding year and such budget is divided into two classifications, the 80% generally is for the Maintenance and Operating Expenses, wages for the employees, and other contractual obligations and more, otherwise known as the General Fund while the remaining 20% is addressed to projects identified, loans payables (though this can also be charged to the 80%) and other programs. This is what we call as Annual Investment Plan or the 20% Development Fund. Investments because, it should bear an ROI (return of investment) if the local officials are bent on freeing themselves from their dependence on the Internal Revenue Allotment from the national government.

This has been the age old problem of most LGUs in the province, dependence on the IRA. Almost all of the money budgeted and used by the LGUs are from their annual IRAs and not so much of their own earnings from local taxations and other local economic enterprises like markets, slaughterhouses, water supply and other economic ventures.

The said 20% appropriation should cover itemized projects. Section 287 of R.A. No. 7160 provides that each LGU shall appropriate in its annual budget no less than 20% of its annual IRA for development projects. Article 384 of its IRR provides further that the local development projects to be funded are those embodied or contained in the local development plans. 

Article 410 further provides that the “LDCs shall submit to the local finance committee a copy of the local development plan and annual investment program prepared and approved during the fiscal year before the calendar for budget preparation in accordance with applicable laws, specifying therein projects proposed for inclusion in the local government budget…. x x x.  The local finance committee shall use the plan to ensure that projects proposed for local funding are included in the budget.”

Where do Intelligence Funds come from?

The general welfare clause under Section 16 of R.A. No. 7160 states, among others, that, LGUs shall “maintain peace and order, and preserve the comfort and convenience of their inhabitants."

Accordingly, the DILG in its capacity and general supervisory authority over LGUs as delegated by the President pursuant to Administrative Order (A.O.) No. 267 series of 1992 issued Memorandum Circular (MC) No. 99-65 dated April 23, 1999 providing policies and guidelines relative to the utilization of funds for intelligence or confidential purposes. These guidelines were further supplemented by DILG MC No. 99-100 dated June 15, 1999. 

The Commission on Audit (COA) has strengthened, but failed dismally, as to why we shall discuss later, the use of public funds for intelligence and/or confidential purposes when it issued COA Circular No. 92-385 dated October 1, 1992 and COA Circular No. 2003-003 dated July 30, 2003 relative to the audit and liquidation guidelines and documentary requirements of Intelligence and/or Confidential Funds. It further prescribed separate accounts in the Revised New Government Accounting System (NGAS) Chart of Accounts under COA Circular No. 2003-001 dated June 17, 2003. Hence, the General Fund Books of Accounts of LGUs have separate accounts for Confidential Expenses (881) and Intelligence Expenses (882) under a common heading, “Confidential, Intelligence, Extraordinary and Miscellaneous Expenses”.

The guidelines in the allocation and use of public funds for intelligence and/or confidential purposes are prescribed under DILG MC No. 99-65 as supplemented by DILG MC No. 99-100. The following provisions thereof may be emphasized:

a.               An allocation for peace and order concerns may be provided in the annual budget of an LGU. Provided, that peace and order is a priority investment area.

b.        The total annual amount appropriated for intelligence or confidential undertakings shall not exceed thirty percent (30%) of the total annual amount allocated for peace and order efforts or three percent (3%) of the total annual appropriations, whichever is lower.

          For example:

A.            Total Allocation for Peace and Order                                               P10M 

Multiply by 30%                                                             30%

                                         Allocation for Intelligence/Confidential Fund                 P 3M

      B.                   Total Appropriations (Annual Budget)                                    P200M

                             Multiply by 3%                                                                             3%

                                  Allocation for Intelligence/Confidential Fund                      P 6M

                                                                                                                                       

In this case, the computation yielding the lower amount (i.e., letter A) shall be used as basis in the allocation for intelligence/confidential purposes.

The funds appropriated for Intelligence and/or Confidential activities shall be used purposely for the conduct of intelligence and/or confidential operations and shall be limited to the following:

·          purchase of information;

·          payment of rewards;

·          rental and other incidental expenses relative to the maintenance of safehouses; and

·          purchase of supplies and ammunitions, provision of medical and food aid, as well as, payment of incentives or travelling expenses relative to the conduct of intelligence or confidential operations.

How are these funds disbursed?

The amounts shall be released to the Local Chief Executives (mayors and governors) as cash advances. The particulars written in the disbursement voucher is “used as intelligence funds” and it is expected that the expenses shall be in accordance to the items stated above. NOW COMES THE MONEY.

How is it treated by the Commission on Audit?

In accordance to the COA Circular related to the intelligence funds, here are the rules which the local chief executives should have followed:

1.         The liquidation report shall not be coursed through the Agency Auditor or Regional/Cluster Director, but shall be submitted in a sealed envelope with a visible label "CONFIDENTIAL – For COA Chairman Only" directly to the Chairman’s Office, COA thru any of the following modes:

  a)  registered mail
  b)  courier
  c)  authorized liaison officers

2.         The address appearing in the envelope shall be as follows:

COMMISSION ON AUDIT
  Commonwealth Avenue
          Quezon City

3.         The report should have a covering transmittal letter itemizing the documents being submitted.

4.         If the liquidation vouchers and supporting papers are in order, the COA Chairman or authorized representative shall issue a credit advice addressed to Head of the Agency, Attention the Chief Accountant, copy furnished the auditor of the government agency/office concerned.

5.         Subsequent cash advances shall be granted only after the issuance of credit advice from the Chairman or the submission of liquidation vouchers/reports for the previous cash advance to the COA Chairman. One copy of the transmittal letter, for the purpose, duly received by the Chairman or his authorized representative, must be forwarded to the Accountant of the agency and the auditor concerned for reference. (THIS IS NOT FOLLOWED)

6.         All liquidation vouchers and supporting papers shall be retained by the COA Chairman for safekeeping in his confidential file. However, duplicate copies of all these record and documents must be retained and filed by the accountable officer of the agency concerned.

Documentary Requirements:

1.         The liquidation vouchers duly signed by the authorized signatories must be supported by the following documents:

a.         Certified Xerox copy of the paid disbursement voucher of the cash advance being liquidated.

b.         Certification of the Agency Head concerned for the utilization of the Intelligence and Confidential Expense. (ONLY? WHAT ABOUT RECEIPTS, PROJECT PROFILES, OTHER JUSTIFICATIONS TO SECURE THE MONEY?)

Any disbursement from the intelligence/confidential funds shall be accounted for solely on the certification of the Head of Agency responsible for the intelligence, confidential, national security mission project or undertaking.

This certification is worded like this:

C E R T I F I C A T I O N

________________

Date

We hereby certify that the amount of ______________________________

(P________) was incurred by the undersigned in connection with PROJECT _________________________ (File Code No.).

We further certify that the aforementioned Project is a highly confidential operation/mission, the details of which cannot be divulged without posing a threat to national security.  We certify however, that the details and supporting documents are in our custody and kept in our confidential file and may be audited if the circumstances so demand.

We certify further that the funds were not used to pay salaries and wages of employees or any elected official nor for overtime, additional compensation, allowance or other fringe benefits and for the purchase of equipment, and that the expenditures were necessary and utilized for legal purposes.

___________________________________

PROJECT/ACCOUNTABLE OFFICER

Attested:

___________________________

HEAD OF THE AGENCY

Now, there are a lot of justifications in the spending of the intelligence expenses which can be abused by our politicians. Have you heard of people who supply intelligence information issuing receipts after receiving their payments for their tips, if any or paying their rewards? Would the items declare the operations of the law enforcers?

There are a lot of loopholes in this process. There are a lot in the English language that can justify on paper the millions for intelligence expenses but in reality, there was no expense at all.

If these monies are used religiously for anti-crime measures such as dependable communication facilities for the law enforcers, purchase of motor vehicles from the pockets of the LGUs and not only from those given by the DILG and the PNP National Office. Have you seen a PNP vehicle maintained by LGUs? They equal those that run in the 1970s, dilapidated and cannot be used for its purpose.

Light facilities can also be bought for those streets and dark alleys. We all want criminality to diminish, not increase.

Most certifications are for sure, gasoline expense which everyone can get receipts for their favourite gasoline stations, information and rewards to fictitious people without a crime solved, and other worthy expenses if those heads of agencies are moral and upright which is a rare breed in government service, especially local government units.

The government must scrap intelligence expenses as there is already the existence of Peace and Order Initiatives which are audited in the usual manner, though not a safeguard against corruption but to say the least, more detailed and more rigorous in justification.

The COA must revise their memo on the funds, make it more realistic and make it work, as the provision on the advise is not really followed. That is why our local officials spend it like it is their very own.

FEEDBACK? Write my comments box.

THE SK: Breeding Ground for Plunderers

by: June Salomon Radi

Calls for the abolition of the Sangguniang Kabataan is escalating and made by many sectors including the Catholic church. It has been proven that the sanggunian is made a training ground for corruption, teaching young minds the “art” of corruption in government.

The recently concluded election was just a glaring example of the corruption cited. Massive vote buying was just like a norm rather than an exception and people in government who were supposed to uphold the rule of law rather took it aside, were those that led the buying and assisted the vote buyers and applauded the takers and sellers, not forgetting the buyers, for making their crimes easily pulled off.

The media on the other hand made it frenzy on the airwaves, every elections, it has become a laughing matter rather than an issue to be addressed and done away.

Here are true instances of the corruption, call it your way bit I would rather call it such:

In one barangay, there were two candidates for the SK top post, and there were only 3 voters. It is true because only 5 of them qualified the age bracket while others were not interested to register. One of the registrants support one candidate while the other supports the second contender leaving only one that would make or break their ambitions. The first candidate offered the voter (P20,000) cash through his parents but the other offered him a brand new motorcycle. Well, obviously, the motorcycle was the option.

Another barangay instance was grand, the total voters were around 200 and there were two contenders. The other was the son of the incumbent punong barangay, the other was a kin of a moneyed politician. Two days before the elections, around 80 voters were herded, taken from their families one after the other so as not to create a commotion and kept it a silent maneuver, and they successfully kept the voters at bay in a resort which was an hour away from their place of residence, like they were on vacation, swimming, eating and karaoke the whole duration. On the day of the elections, they were taken to the precincts in a group of 5 and all of them were given money before departure. The maneuver succeeded and who could say there was nothing wrong with it?

Another instance happened in two barangays, I only knew  two and it is possible that it happened in many others. The result was, in these two barangays, there was only one candidate, unopposed. They were unopposed because the would be contenders were offered cash so as to discourage them from running, and they backed out The term discourage was used because the cash went with a threat. Spell it as you like, the threat.

Another instance was the bidding gone bad. The other party went to his opponent offered him P30,000. The former was insulted and replied, they could counter offer 100,000 also asking the first offeror to back out. It became a war of money and the first offeror did not know the Art of War as written by Chairman Mao Tse Tung that in order to win the war, one must “know his enemy”.

The night before the elections, if you went to the Rotonda, one cold that late night there were around 50 teenagers, sitting around the fence of the horse back riding areas in their jackets and near them was a ten wheeler truck parked, it was theirs as the others did not disembark and stayed in the open truck, resting, sleeping, talking. I asked one of them as I went passed them and she replied “hakot SK”.

The National Organization of the SK was not spared as the present National President who is an ex oficio member of the National Youth Commission is hounded by graft charges at the Office of the Ombudsman, at a very young age.

The law which created the SK which is the Local Government Code (RA 7160) I am certain was made with good intentions. It is the implementing arm of the law which made it evil, though many camps would say that the law was created with a lot of loopholes. Never have I heard of a perfect law, the Congress was blind as the law was there for more than 2 decades and not one dared to amend it for the better , and again, a lot of SK elections already went their ways.

The SK further widened the opportunity for political dynasties which is another thing that Congress has failed to define and address through an enabling law prohibiting political dynasties as stated in the 1987 Constitution. They never dared to address political dynasty as the lawmakers themselves violated it, the laws of morality and conscience. They themselves are from various dynasties and prohibiting political dynasties is for them, political suicide.

These victors of the recent SK polls were taught in their early lives how corruption works, and for sure, they themselves would constitute the people who will make this country fall deeper into debt and embarrassment, more corruption and cancer of society as Rizal pointed out.

With all these, I am hoping that Congress would address this scare of society. But on second thoughts, would they address the abolition of the SK when the SK officialdom is composed of their children, brothers, sisters, family members? I would rather wait and see.

HONGKONG LABOR ATTACHE BULLIES LOWLY VICTIMIZED OFW: Talking about unsung heroes

Agnes, the distressed overseas Filipino worker (OFW), clicked her mobile phone on record as she entered his office. Imagine the horror she had at every moment with him.

His name is Romulo Salud, the labor attache of the Philippines to Hong Kong.

Some people call him Romy. I CALL HIM MONSTERIN A GOVERNMENT POST!

In the said meeting, Labatt Salud told Tenorio: ‘Wag mong gagamitin yang karapatan. Dahil karapatan ko rin… kung tatanggapin kita o hindi. Wag mong pagdidiinan mo sa akin yang karapatan mo ha?’  [Don’t use the word “right”. Because it is also my right if I am going to accept you or not.]