[PHOTO - FORMER SURIGAO, ILOCOS SUR REP. PROSPERO PICHAY]
MANILA, FEBRUARY 8, 2011 (STAR) By Marvin Sy and Paolo Romero - Former Surigao del Sur Rep. Prospero Pichay Jr. allegedly received P500,000 from the military on at least three occasions when he visited the office of the Armed Forces chief of staff as head of the House committee on defense, whistle-blower retired Lt. Col. George Rabusa said yesterday.
Pichay, now chairman of the Local Water Utilities Administration, denied the allegation.
Rabusa told the Senate Blue Ribbon committee he prepared the money for Pichay – upon instructions of former comptroller Carlos Garcia – every time the former congressman visited the office of then chief of staff Diomedio Villanueva.
He said Pichay showed up at Villanueva's office at least three times to receive the money.
The hearing yesterday was on the plea bargain deal between Garcia and the Ombudsman's special prosecutors.
In the plea bargain deal, Garcia would return P130 million of the P303 million he allegedly plundered in exchange for his pleading guilty to the lesser offense of direct bribery, which is bailable. Garcia is out on bail.
Rabusa said that he did not know why Pichay was given money because he never questioned the orders of his superior.
"I don't know. I just prepared the money whenever they told me to," Rabusa said in Filipino.
Rabusa said that he remembered Pichay as chairman of the House committee which defended the proposed budget of the AFP. Pichay also headed the House contingent in the Commission on Appointments at the time Rabusa was budget officer.
Rabusa said that the fund for Pichay came from the provision for command directed activity (PCDA).
The PCDA comprised funds pooled from major services of the AFP. It amounted to about P40 million a month.
Rabusa earlier claimed that chiefs of staff used to receive P5 million a month from the PCDA and that others down the line also received substantial amounts.
When asked about Rabusa's claim, Garcia said that he could not recall seeing Pichay at the office of the chief of staff.
"If I saw him I would remember," Garcia said.
Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago said that she was inclined to believe Rabusa over Pichay at this time because the former military officer has been consistent and believable in his testimonies before the Senate.
Santiago, a former trial court judge, said that Pichay would only have his alibi and denial as his defense, but that this would be hard for him to prove.
"At this point, it appears that Rabusa will prevail over Pichay. Rabusa is a witness who testified in a clear, positive, and convincing manner. He has remained consistent on cross-examination. He is a credible witness," Santiago said.
"Pichay has to prove that he was somewhere else when he was supposed to be receiving money from General Garcia. In addition, Pichay will have to prove that it was physically impossible for him to be physically present at the office of Gen. Garcia at the time of the alleged bribery," she added.
According to Santiago, the testimony of Rabusa, which was "free of any sign of impropriety," was already sufficient to secure the conviction of those he accused "even if uncorroborated."
"Proof of Rabusa's motive against Pichay is not crucial, where the identity of the accused has been amply established," she said.
"Positive testimony from Rabusa is entitled to greater weight than negative testimony from Pichay," she added.
Pichay denied Rabusa's allegations and vowed to sue the former military budget officer for libel "for maligning my name."
Pichay said it was "easy to debunk" Rabusa's allegations by checking the security logbook at the Department of National Defense. He said what Rabusa did was "foul."
"I respected him (Rabusa) until today. I have never gone to the DND except once during a command conference and I was there as chairman of the House committee on national defense," Pichay told The STAR.
"It's easy to verify my story. Just check the logbooks. I'm the chairman of the committee, in my position, if I needed anything from them (generals), I would ask them to come to me. I'm a lawmaker," he said.
He said he never received a single centavo from the Armed Forces when he was a lawmaker.
"There's no truth at all to his statements. I have never received a single centavo. Maybe he wants to gain more publicity or fame by dragging my name into this. But he should be careful or else he will lose credibility," Pichay said.
"I was all for Rabusa's exposés on the misuse of AFP funds, but now that I am at the receiving end of this false accusation, I know that we should no longer rely on everything he says as gospel truth," he said.
Pichay declined to say if politics was behind his being dragged into the issue. Pichay is a known supporter of former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. He ran for senator under the then ruling party in 2007 but lost.
"I don't want to speculate. I'm just working here in LWUA and I'll just stick to the facts that I have not received a single centavo," he said.
He said he is willing to face Rabusa or any other military official in any congressional inquiry "so I can set the record straight and repair the damage to my reputation."
'Floating fund'
Rabusa also told the committee that the AFP had about P20 million in a "floating fund" placed inside a vault ready for his disposal anytime.
"The moment the fund reached below P20 million, we had to do something to avoid the funds from being depleted," Rabusa said. The fund, he said, was for top officials of the AFP – from comptroller to chief of staff. He said he would look for funds to "convert" when the funds became lower than P20 million.
He said they had to tap about P102 million from the UN fund for East Timor and about P1 billion of the budget for personnel services or for the salaries and benefits of soldiers.
Sen. Franklin Drilon, Senate finance chairman, noted that in the 2011 budget alone, the AFP has about P44 billion budget for salaries.
"The problem is the AFP will never tell us the actual number of troops," Drilon said.
Rabusa said about 20 percent of the budget for personnel services had been diverted to the so-called funds under the control of the AFP chief.
"We passed P44 billion based on troop ceiling in the 2011 budget. Twenty percent, that's approximately P8.8 billion, as a free fund, which is being used in the pabaon and other purposes," Drilon said.
"The answer, your honor… will incriminate me," Garcia said when asked to comment on Rabusa's allegations.
Central bank
Rabusa reiterated in yesterday's hearing that they merely "inherited" the "tradition" from previous leaderships.
He said he was disheartened by insinuations that he and his deputy budget officer, Air Force Col. Ramon Antonio Lim, were the ones who started the fund conversion and the pabaon and pasalubong systems in the military.
"They always say that I am the bagman, I am not….The J6 (Comptroller) is the 'central bank,' while the executive assistants of the AFP chiefs are called the 'money bags'," he said.
During the term of Villanueva as AFP chief, Rabusa said his executive assistants were Col. Hilario Atendido, a member of PMA class 1987. Another assistant was a certain Colonel Bagasin of PMA class 1983.
Rabusa revealed that during the term of Gen. Roy Cimatu, his executive assistant was a certain Col. De Leon, a classmate at PMA class of 1981.
Meanwhile, Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin said in a statement read by a representative that the Department of National Defense fully supports the inquiry.
"This department remains committed to the tenets of good governance as espoused by our President and commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces in his social contract with the Filipino people and shall continue to cooperate with the legislature to uncover the truth," Gazmin said.
As this developed, the Senate deferred yesterday its action on pending motions to cite former AFP chief Angelo Reyes and Garcia in contempt.
The senators arrived at the decision after a caucus where a majority agreed to give Reyes and Garcia enough chance to explain their sides on the accusations of graft.
According to Blue Ribbon chairman Sen. Teofisto Guingona III, the Senate would again subpoena Reyes to compel him to attend the hearing. "If he defies the subpoena, that's the only time the contempt issue will come in," Guingona said.
"With regard to Gen. (Francisco) Ligot, there is no formal motion for contempt. I guess we will just have to continue with Gen. Ligot. Anyway, his wife has been invited for the next hearing," Guingona said. With Christina Mendez
Chief News Editor: Sol Jose Vanzi
© Copyright, 2011 by PHILIPPINE HEADLINE NEWS ONLINE
All rights reserved
PHILIPPINE HEADLINE NEWS ONLINE [PHNO] WEBSITE
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
------------------------------------
-------------------------------------------------------------
Follow us on Twitter: http://twitter.com/phnotweet
This is the PHILIPPINE HEADLINE NEWS ONLINE (PHNO) Mailing List.
To stop receiving our news items, please send a blank e-mail addressed to: phno-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com
Please visit our homepage at: http://www.newsflash.org/
(c) Copyright 2009. All rights reserved.
-------------------------------------------------------------Yahoo! Groups Links
<*> To visit your group on the web, go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/phno/
<*> Your email settings:
Individual Email | Traditional
<*> To change settings online go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/phno/join
(Yahoo! ID required)
<*> To change settings via email:
phno-digest@yahoogroups.com
phno-fullfeatured@yahoogroups.com
<*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
phno-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com
<*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to:
http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
