FORMER STATE AUDITOR: P270-M MISSING IN AFP FUND; NEVER ENTERED BOOKS
[PHOTO - Former state auditor Heidi Mendoza reveals more anomalies in the use of military funds during a House hearing yesterday. BOY SANTOS]
MANILA, FEBRUARY 2, 2011 (STAR) By Jess Diaz - Some P270 million of Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) funds representing reimbursements from the United Nations are missing, a former government auditor told the House justice committee yesterday.
Heidi Mendoza, who headed a team that conducted a financial audit of the AFP in 2004, said she was informed that in February 2001, a military officer "personally picked up" a $5-million check (P220 million based on the current exchange rate) from the UN headquarters in New York City.
Mendoza said the check was "reimbursement for equipment" used by Filipino troops sent abroad for UN peacekeeping missions.
"The check never entered the books of accounts of the AFP," she said.
Meanwhile, former military budget officer and retired lieutenant colonel George Rabusa said former AFP chief Gen. Diomedio Villanueva and other generals got kickbacks from the $2-million equipment deal with an Israeli supplier of unmanned aircraft, apart from the P160-million pabaon he allegedly received.
Mendoza named neither her informant nor the officer who supposedly picked up the check.
The financial audit was requested by then Ombudsman Simeon Marcelo in connection with the plunder case he filed against former AFP comptroller Carlos Garcia.
Mendoza testified against Garcia in the plunder hearings in the Sandiganbayan.
She narrated before the justice committee that in the course of their "laborious" examination of AFP documents, her team stumbled upon another UN reimbursement check in the amount of P200 million signed by Garcia.
She said only P150 million of the P200 million was deposited in the trust account of the AFP in the Land Bank branch in Alfaro, Makati City.
She said the remaining P50 million was not deposited in the account and could not be traced.
She said she did not know how the P50 million was deducted from the P200 million check.
Commenting on Mendoza's testimony, Marcelo said her statement about the missing $5-million reimbursement was a new revelation and was not considered in the plunder case against Garcia.
He said the P200 million check and the P50 million that could not be traced were part of the audit report that was presented to the Sandiganbayan.
He said the Land Bank officer who knew about the transaction has fled to Las Vegas, Nevada.
Mendoza lamented that despite the lofty objective of her task in the AFP and the risk it posed to her and her family, her superiors, including then Commission on Audit chairman Guillermo Carague, and the office of the executive secretary in Malacañang discouraged her from pursuing it.
However, she said she decided to finish the job "for the benefit of the ordinary soldiers and our people."
Former executive secretary Eduardo Ermita, who was at the hearing, denied telling Mendoza to go slow in auditing the AFP.
Firm but open to review
During the hearing, Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez maintained that the evidence against Garcia was weak and could lead to his acquittal, prompting her and her prosecutors to agree to a plea bargain with the accused.
She said under the agreement, the former AFP comptroller would return P135 million of the P303 million he is accused of plundering in exchange for the withdrawal of the plunder charge against him.
She promised to evaluate Mendoza's testimony and the statements of retired AFP budget officer George Rabusa and to review the Garcia case if necessary.
She told the committee she has formed a special panel to look into the allegations of Rabusa and Mendoza and see if they can be linked to Garcia's transactions.
"What some are doing is to muddle the issue. There's was no fixing, no money involved here (plea bargain). I swear to God, if there's anyone who profited from this, let this person be struck dead by lightning," an emotional Gutierrez told the panel in Filipino.
"We want the public to know that this is very clean and we want to get the most out of the accused and now we are being subjected to trial by publicity through misrepresentation and false accusations," she said.
She said Marcelo, her predecessor, and former special prosecutor Dennis Villa-Ignacio misled President Aquino in opposing the plea bargain agreement by claiming the Sandiganbayan had denied the defense lawyers' filing of a demurrer to evidence, which basically means they would not contest the prosecution's evidence against Garcia because it is weak.
"What they're (Marcelo and Villa-Ignacio) doing is mislead the President. My God, and the shocker here is that there's no such thing (demurrer to evidence) and the Sandiganbayan has issued a certification to that that it's not true," she said.
She insisted the plunder case filed against the retired general in 2004 was weak and relied only on the letter of his wife, Clarita, regarding his transactions as comptroller.
"So we bargained, we decided, we opted to get all the properties of Mr. Garcia, because we believe that there was no evidence to convict Mr. Garcia for the case at hand," Gutierrez said.
Parañaque Rep. Roilo Golez asked why Gutierrez was acting as if the testimonies of Rabusa and Mendoza did not exist and was relying only on what her prosecutors were recommending.
She countered that Mendoza had indeed conducted an investigation into alleged illegal transactions in the Armed Forces but could not link them to Garcia's case.
"So how can these AFP transactions be part of the plea bargain agreement? Testimony of (former lieutenant) colonel Rabusa remains a statement. What we need is evidence that would warrant us to ask the Sandiganbayan that we be allowed to change our position," she said.
When asked by Ilocos Norte Rep. Rodolfo Fariñas, committee vice chair, whether it would be possible to review the agreement, Gutierrez said: "Of course, Mr. Chairman. But this is another investigation because we did not have this evidence before."
Marcelo insisted that the case he filed against Garcia and its supporting evidence were strong.
He said two pieces of incriminating evidence they had against the accused were the statements of Garcia's wife that she and her husband routinely received huge sums in cash gifts and shopping money from contractors and suppliers who dealt with Garcia.
"Those were admissions against interest and could be used against the accused and his wife," he said.
Still, evidence 'weak'
However, Special Prosecutor Joseph Capistrano told congressmen that, "unfortunately, we did not share the assessment by the former ombudsman of these admissions."
He said they felt that the statements given to the US Customs by Clarita Garcia when her two sons were held for not declaring that they were carrying $100,000 in cash to the US could not be used against her husband.
But he assured lawmakers that he and other prosecutors handling the Garcia case – and with Mendoza's help – really did their best in trying to support the plunder charge against the former military comptroller by going over voluminous documents.
"What we discovered were transactions involving Garcia and check-payments signed by him. Unfortunately, we could not find any supplier or contractor who would admit giving money to the accused to prove the predicate crime of bribery in plunder," he said.
"The ballooning (bank) deposits of the Garcias in dollars and pesos were evidence of wealth but not bribery," he said.
Commenting on what he heard from his former prosecutor, Marcelo said, "Now I can understand why the prosecutors are claiming the evidence is weak and why they entered into a plea bargaining agreement with General Garcia."
"But they are wrong. They did not consider another predicate crime in plunder, which is taking advantage of one's position to amass wealth. And here you don't have to have a supplier or contractor as a witness," he said.
He said the deposits in several banks of Garcia, his wife and their sons and their other assets were proof that the accused took advantage of his position to amass wealth.
At this point, Fariñas, a lawyer, invited Marcelo, Gutierrez and her prosecutors to dinner after the hearing "so we can harmonize your respective positions and strengthen the plunder case (against Garcia)."
"We are all working for the people here," he told them. "Your wrangling is weakening your case."
Garcia for his part declined to answer when asked by committee members whether the P135 million he agreed to return to the government was part of the P303 million he is accused of plundering.
"My case is still pending in the Sandigan, your honors, and I am invoking my right against self-incrimination," he said.
UN funds missing
Former rebel officer retired Marine Col. Ariel Querubin also confirmed reports that the United Nations fund for the Philippine peacekeeping team in East Timor was misused.
Querubin, who was liaison officer for the Philippine peacekeeping team to East Timor in 2001, said the UN provides $60,000 monthly for foreign contingents.
"The specialists' pay was approximately $60,000 monthly, which the other contingents were getting. The Philippine contingent did not receive it," according to Querubin.
"During our time… there was a specialist pay fund that we did not get… we were told 'do not touch that. It is for the contingency fund of the chief of staff'," he added.
Querubin, however, opted to withhold the identity of the officer who made the order.
On the other hand, the Association of Generals and Flag Officers, Inc. (AGFO) said the revelation on the supposed malpractices in the use of military funds, is demoralizing to soldiers.
"The recent expose about the large-scale misuse of armed forces' funds allegedly for the personal benefit of some former chiefs of staff is disconcerting and demoralizing to the serving men and women of the AFP," AGFO said in a statement.
Impressed
For Malacañang, Mendoza appeared to be a credible witness and gave an impressive presentation of her testimony.
"We were impressed with what she said (in Congress). We believe that she is a credible witness and we believe that she should be protected," presidential spokesman Edwin Lacierda said in an ambush interview at the Palace.
During the briefing, the Cabinet official revealed that Mendoza went to the Department of Justice last Monday to seek protection through the government's witness protection program, in anticipation of the dangers her family would likely be facing as a result of her exposé.
"She applied before the DOJ to avail of the services of WPP. So before she came to the House hearing, we made sure that she will be protected by the government," Lacierda added.
Iloilo Rep. Niel Tupas Jr., who heads the House committee on justice, is an ally of President Aquino in the Liberal Party.
"We realize the importance of her testimony. We have listened to her testimony. And they were all based on court records. We believe she is a very credible witness to shed light on the anomalies that happened in the military during the comptrollership of Garcia," he said.
Lacierda said he, along with the President and several other Cabinet members, watched the House deliberations, and discussed other issues as well including plans to evacuate Filipino workers from Egypt.
Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago also finds Mendoza a credible witness.
"I love Heidi Mendoza. I admire her a lot. She must be a very brave woman," Santiago said.
"I would love to see Heidi Mendoza running naked in QC (Quezon City) circle because she promised to do that if the case against him (Garcia) is dismissed by the Sandiganbayan," Santiago said in jest.
Santiago, a former trial judge, noted that the presumption under the Rules of Court was that Mendoza was performing her job.
"If we grant her that presumption, then we presume that it is true that certain auditors told her to 'go easy.' That in itself is a violation of the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Law, because the Anti-Graft law makes it a crime if you persuade, influence or instigate somebody to break the law or to break rules and regulations. So her accusers, at this stage, stand accused of the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Law," Santiago said.
Kickback
Rabusa, meanwhile, declined to elaborate how Villanueva and former AFP deputy chief Gen. Roy Cimatu as well as then Defense Secretary Angelo Reyes, benefited from the $2 million equipment deal with an Israeli firm, saying he would divulge more at the Senate Blue Ribbon committee tomorrow.
"It's all going to be in my affidavit," Rabusa told The STAR. "Let's just wait for my affidavit."
Sources said the deal – initially worth $5 million – was eventually scrapped when an unmanned air vehicle or UAV crashed in Mindanao.
The UAV model called Blue Horizon was said to be manufactured by Singapore Technologies, under contract with Emit Aviation Consultancy of Israel. Armed with powerful infrared camera, a Blue Horizon UAV is capable of doing surveillance in jungles even at night. With Christina Mendez, Paolo Romero, Delon Porcalla
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