trail of blood in afp corruption probe
Renowl
By Paolo Romero
The Philippine Star 11/10/2004
A trail of blood marks past and present investigations into the alleged web of
corruption in the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP).
The trail begins with the mysterious death of Navy Ensign Philip Andrew
Pestaño in September 1995 — a case where congressional investigations almost
came to a dead end.
Pestaño was found dead in his cabin in a military cargo vessel while en route
to Manila from Cavite — an apparent suicide.
A report by The STAR in 1997 triggered an investigation by Congress. Pestaño
had exposed another enlisted man engaged in the drug trade and denounced
corrupt practices in the Navy.
Navy officials said it was a suicide but results of a Senate investigation
showed otherwise.
The Senate inquiry found that Pestaño was murdered since autopsy reports
showed he had a bullet wound in the head and four wounds in his body.
Witnesses told the Senate panel that Pestaño, cargo officer of the BRP Bacolod
City, was apparently silenced to keep the lid on the alleged use of Navy ships
to smuggle drugs and illegally cut logs.
An intelligence officer who reportedly helped Pestaño in securing evidence had
a "boating accident" off Tawi-Tawi following Pestaño’s murder.
The Senate panel recommended the criminal prosecution of those allegedly behind
Pestaño’s killing.
Among those recommended charged with murder was Navy enlisted man Carlito
Amoroso, an aide of Navy chief Vice Admiral Pio Carranza, who was not listed
among the crew of the cargo vessel where Pestaño was found dead.
A subsequent investigation conducted by the House of Representatives into the
incident was left unfinished. No reason was given but apparently, congressmen
decided to allow the Senate to wrap up its probe.
In April 1998, a lone gunman shot dead Navy Cmdr. Nestor Fernando in his office
at the Joint Command and Staff College (JCSC) at Camp Aguinaldo.
The assassin, later identified as a bodyguard of a ranking military official,
killed two more servicemen in Fernando’s office before he was mowed down by
responding military police and camp guards.
Fernando was investigating missing funds and the supposed unauthorized
construction of additional structures at the JCSC following a post-audit.
Sources said a multi-agency audit disclosed only two of the three buildings
were authorized to be constructed. The same audit also disclosed at least eight
questionable contracts, with the military’s project management officer trying
to pocket the funds.
"It was a clear case of a rubout and even the killer was disposed of," a
military source told The STAR.
In December 2003, Army Col. Raul Heredia was gunned down by still unidentified
gunmen outside his residence in Project 4, Quezon City.
Sources said Heredia, who was then head of the Army logistics office, was
killed in connection with bungled contracts which involved his superior
officers. The contracts were mostly for the refurbishment and repair of
Scorpion tanks for the Army.
During the joint hearing of the House committees on national defense and banks,
Ilocos Norte Rep. Imee Marcos took note of the bloody history involving
corruption in the military.
Marcos pointed out the common denominator is graft and corruption.
"All these (cases) have been either unacted upon or reduced to a police matter.
And these are your colleagues," Marcos told the panels after being informed by
AFP officers that they are leaving these cases to the police authorities.
Marcos told The STAR that according to her sources in the AFP, there are
"packages for the good boys and the bad boys" as far as the pocketing of funds
is concerned.
"If you’re a good boy, you get bonuses, huge deposits, properties here and
abroad when you retire. But if you’re a bad boy, that is if you refused to
cooperate, you may end up dead," she said.
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Mister K
"Renowl" <ren...@aol.com> wrote in message
news:20041110030832...@mb-m02.aol.com...
> Trail of blood marks AFP corruption probes
> By Paolo Romero
> The Philippine Star 11/10/2004
>
>
> "If you're a good boy, you get bonuses, huge deposits, properties here and
> abroad when you retire. But if you're a bad boy, that is if you refused to
> cooperate, you may end up dead," she said.
>
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------
not so long ago...........mid-80's the generals were involved in selling
private party
tickets P 200-500 a piece for 'fundraising' and on occassions they were the
receipients of P3,000 a month grocery allowance from the boyz
they thought ' FUCK IT, I'M A GENERAL!'
k
i dont blame them