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THE House committee
on national defense will recommend the prosecution
of Interior Secretary Angelo Reyes and five of his
six successors as AFP chiefs for command responsibility
over graft in the military.
Rep. Roilo Golez
(Kampi, Parañaque), chairman of the committee,
said Reyes and the five others were immediate supervisors
of Major Generals (ret). Carlos Garcia and Jacinto
Ligot who are both facing charges of amassing wealth
when they were AFP comptroller (J6).
Ligot was comptroller
when Reyes was AFP chief from July 1999 to March 2001.
Garcia was comptroller
from March 2001 to March 2004.
The AFP chiefs served
by Garcia were retired Generals Diomedio Villanueva
(March 7, 2001 to May 20, 2002), Roy Cimatu (May 20,
2002 to Sept. 10, 2002), Benjamin Defensor (Sept.
10, 2002 to November 2002), Dionisio Santiago (Nov.
2002 to April 8, 2003) and Narciso Abaya (April 8,
2003 to Oct. 29, 2004).
Golez said the committee
is finalizing its report on its investigation of corruption
in the military.
Garcia, whose accumulated
wealth is placed at P143 million, and Ligot, who owns
properties here and abroad, are facing charges before
the Sandiganbayan and the Office of the Ombudsman,
respectively.
"Yun mga chief
of staff na mga namuno sa kanila (Ligot and Garcia)
should be held accountable and responsible kasi sa
ilalim ng ilong nila nangyari ito. So kung 'di nila
ito nakita, 'di inagapan, ibig sabihin either mahina
ang liderato nila o mali ang kanilang liderato and
they should be held accountable," Golez said.
Golez said these
former military chiefs should explain why they seemed
to know nothing about Garcia and Ligot's accumulation
of wealth and the frequent foreign travels of their
wives.
"Bakit di nila
nakikita ito lalo't alam nila na center of graft and
corruption itong office of the comptroller. Ibig sabihin,
nagpabaya sila," he said.
Reyes appeared once
before the hearings of the committee to shed answer
questions on his assets and on conversion of funds.
Rep. Imee Marcos
(KBL, Ilocos Norte) has asked Reyes to explain who
funded the 28 foreign travels of her wife Teresita
since 1998 where she was accompanied several times
by Ligot's wife Erlinda and Debbie Rabusa, wife of
Col. George Rabusa, Garcia's budget officer who is
also facing wealth charges.
Golez said he has
asked Deputy Ombudsman Margarito Gervacio to look
into wealth of Reyes and his successors.
"I understand
na ito'y tinitingnan na ng Office of the Ombudsman.
I urged the Ombudsman to look into these kasi makikita
naman kung saan ba sila nakatira ngayon, ano ba yung
mga bahay nila, yung mga pagbibiyahe nung mga asawa
nila Naka-record naman lahat yan," he said.
At the Sandiganbayan,
Garcia and his family said their P143 million in cash
and real property assets were acquired legally.
In a 19-page answer
to the government's forfeiture complaint filed with
the Sandiganbayan Fourth Division, Garcia, his wife
Clarita, and children Ian Carl, Juan Paulo and Timothy
Mark, moved for the dismissal of the case, citing
lack of cause for action.
"The properties
specified in the petition were all legitimately acquired
either before or after 1993 using lawful resources.
(T)he petition should be dismissed, there being absolutely
no cause of action against respondents," the
Garcias said.
Among the properties
claimed by the Garcias to be legitimately theirs but
are sought to be recovered by the government are two
condominium units in New York with a combined value
of $1.42 million; a house and lot in Ohio; $785,630
in cash said to have been carted off to the United
States; over P12 million in investments with the Armed
Forces and Police Savings and Loan Association Inc.
(AFPSLAI); aand millions deposited in several bank
accounts in different local banks and several vehicles.
The Garcias refused
to recognize the legitimacy of the statements of assets,
liabilities and net worth (SALNs) that the Ombudsman
used as basis for computing his "official income"
at only P4.38 million from 1993 to 2003.
They said they were
not afforded an opportunity to examine if the SALNs
were authentic.
The answer was filed
despite a ruling by the Sandiganbayan last week declaring
the Garcias to be in default for failing to submit
their answer on time.
In the ruling,
the Fourth Division held that the defendants were
barred from participating in the trial and would be
simply furnished with whatever evidence would be presented
by government lawyers in their presentation. - With
Peter J. G. Tabingo
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