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Autho Topic: Army officer faces P43-M unexplained wealth

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kuratong Army officer faces P43-M unexplained wealth
Member raps
« on: January 21, 2005, 03:06:36 AM »
Posts: 235
HEADLINE NEWS

Army officer faces P43-M unexplained wealth raps

By Delon Porcalla
The Philippine Star 01/21/2005

Another Army officer has been charged with alleged

unexplained wealth amid a crackdown on corruption in
the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), government
prosecutors said yesterday.

Lt. Col. George Rabusa has been charged with three

counts of perjury and unlawfully acquiring property and
vehicles amounting to more than P43 million, the
Ombudsman said in a statement.
Rabusa’s legitimate income for 2003 reached only P13.5
million. He had served as the former budget officer of
retired Maj. Gen. Carlos Garcia.

Rabusa’s wife Debbie and father-in-law Felix Arevalo

were also charged with conspiring and "serving as his
dummies," the statement said.

Rabusa’s net worth rose from P618,000 in 1990 to P7.18

million in 2003. However, his annual salary was less
than P275,000.

"Undoubtedly, Rabusa’s accumulation of such

unexplained wealth of more than P43 million is indeed
manifestly or grossly disproportionate to his and his
wife’s lawful income and cannot be justified under the
circumstances," the Ombudsman said in a 12-page
resolution.

Land Transportation Office (LTO) records

showed Rabusa had 11 vehicles registered to his name
worth a total of P5.2 million. Nine of the cars have
already been sold. The vehicles remaining in Rabusa’s
possession are a 2003 Honda Civic sedan and a 1999
Hyundai Starex van.

Investigators also found that Rabusa spent P5.5 million

in "improvements" to his home at the AFP Officers
Village at Fort Bonifacio in Makati City. They also found
that Rabusa owned a P1.5-million house and lot in
Parañaque City that was sold for P2.8 million and P1
million in investments in a family-owned company —
Arevalo, Rabusa, Templora Inc.

Rabusa’s investments in the Armed Forces and Police

Savings and Loan Association Inc. (AFPSLAI) have
reached P10 million and investigators found that he has
a total of P10 million more in savings deposits in three
local banks. Records also showed that Rabusa paid
$132,485 (P7.4 million) in total insurance premiums for
his daughters Diana and Dorothy Grace in February
2004.

"There is, likewise, no justification how (Rabusa) could

have shouldered his personal and family expenses,
(these) expenses being beyond what could be
legitimately sustained by his lawful income,"
Ombudsman probers Dennis Garcia, Joyce Martinez-
Barut and Luis Aquino said in their indictment.

Immigration records show that Rabusa went overseas

17 times since 1993 and that his wife traveled abroad 18
times - including trips to Sydney, Australia; San
Francisco, France, London, England, Singapore and
Bangkok, Thailand. Immigration records also showed
that the Rabusa children — Diana, Dorothy Grace and
Danielle George — went to Los Angeles and Singapore.

These foreign trips cost Rabusa P1 million in expenses,

Deputy Ombudsman for the Military Orlando Casimiro
said. The cost of these foreign trips would have taken a
serious toll on Rabusa’s income and they make his
declared assets, investments and property "more
unfeasible."

Investigators from the Ombudsman branded Rabusa’s

defense that his family received P4.1 million in financial
assistance from his in-laws and inheritance as "highly
dubious," since Rabusa’s explanation is "very
convenient" to make.

According to the Ombudsman’s investigators, Rabusa’s

defense remains unsubstantiated.

Investigators also found that Rabusa’s declared annual

expenses were always "remarkably higher" than his
actual legitimate earnings, particularly those recorded in
1998, 2000, 2001, 2002 and 2003. Rabusa said he
spent P5.4 million in 2000, when his earnings were only
recorded at P4.6 million.

"Clearly, Rabusa does not have sufficient disposable

funds which he could have used to invest to acquire
additional assets or properties to increase his net worth,"
the Ombudsman said.

Rabusa is the latest officer to be charged with graft in

a crackdown on corruption within the military.

At the resumption of Garcia’s court martial yesterday, a

female prosecution witness broke down under intense
questioning by one of the lawyers for the defense.

Rosario Santos, chief finance officer of the AFPSLAI, lost

her composure when lawyer Constantino de Jesus
sarcastically asked her why she was testifying against
Garcia.

Before the incident that led to a recess and subsequent

adjournment of trial, De Jesus meticulously and
repeatedly questioned Santos why she issued a
certification on his client’s deposit at AFPSLAI despite the
existence of the bank secrecy law.

De Jesus also ribbed Santos on why she was testifying

against Garcia if the AFPSLAI considered him a valued
client.

The legal antics drew laughter inside the military

courtroom, but Santos broke into tears. Subpoena for
Ligot
Meanwhile, retired Gen. Jacinto Ligot faces arrest if he
continues to ignore the summons of the House
committee on national defense to appear in the next
hearing on the alleged web of corruption in the AFP.

Parañaque Rep. Roilo Golez, who chairs the committee,

said they have issued a subpoena signed by Speaker
Jose de Venecia for Ligot to appear at the Jan. 25
hearing and shed light on persistent reports of the
enormous wealth he had accumulated while serving in
the armed forces.

House sergeant-at-arms Bayani Fabic will serve the

subpoena to Ligot, who served under former AFP chief of
staff Angelo Reyes.

Reyes is now secretary of the Interior and Local

Government.

"If Ligot refuses to honor the subpoena, the retired

general will be arrested and brought to the House,"
Golez said.

The House panel was forced to issue the subpoena after

Ligot snubbed the body’s invitations four times.

The last invitation was delivered to one of Ligot’s many

known addresses, in Muntinlupa City, where a senior
member of the committee secretariat reported that
someone in the Ligot household, possibly Ligot’s son,
shouted at him arrogantly, saying "Congress lang pala
(it’s just Congress)."

The same man challenged the House to issue a

subpoena, the committee staffer said.

"It appears from this and previous actuations that

somebody very powerful may be protecting and
emboldening retired general Ligot to be defiant," Golez
said. "They must be hiding something very big, but we
will not allow this unprecedented arrogance to
continue."

Golez had invited Ligot to the House defense

committee’s hearings to explain the declarations made in
an article published in the Dec. 20, 2004 issue of
Newsbreak magazine, which stated that Ligot amassed
unexplained wealth while in active service in the AFP,
particularly during his stint as AFP comptroller, despite
the fact that his monthly salary then was only P35,000.

Among Ligot’s reported property are: A condominium

unit in Essensa at The Fort in Makati City, other property
in the Philippines and two houses in California worth
millions of dollars, Golez said.
Ligot is also known as a "frequent flyer," having made at
least 28 foreign trips since 1998, Golez added.

In a separate statement, Ligot’s lawyer Antonio Zulueta

said he advised Ligot to decline the invitations issued by
Golez’s committee and "to address these alleged
violations at the proper forum, such as the Office of the
Ombudsman, so as not to subject (Ligot) prematurely to
unnecessary persecution and to public humiliation,
especially now that the Ombudsman has initiated its
investigation on the matter."

In a letter to Golez, Zulueta said "any inquiry into these

very private matters, short of an accusation filed in
court, would likewise be violative of our client’s
constitutional rights, particularly his right to privacy, life
and property."

Garcia, the former chief financial officer of the AFP,

was charged last year with amassing over $1 million
despite having an annual salary that amounted only to
about $7,200.

Garcia was also charged with possessing a green card

as a permanent resident of the United States, which is
not permitted for serving Philippines officers.

A Philippine Air Force general was recently charged with

graft for the fraudulent sale of military equipment.

The office of the Ombudsman, tasked with probing graft

in government, has also filed criminal charges against air
force Brig. Gen. Vladimir Binondo delos Trino, Maj.
Antonio Jason Garcia and a military engineer for
defrauding the government in the sale of four military-
owned power generators worth P800,000.

The three allegedly disregarded a higher bid for the

generators and received kickbacks from the winning
bidder, who will also be charged in court. — With Paolo
Romero, Jaime Laude
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Dont kill the messenger just the message--smoke em' if you got em'

kuratong Military officer's alleged illegal wealth to be

Member confiscated
« Reply #1 on: January 21, 2005, 03:27:58 AM »
Posts: 235
Military officer's alleged
illegal wealth to be
confiscated
Posted 02:30pm (Mla time) Jan 21, 2005
Agence France-Presse

THE GOVERNMENT will confiscate some 43 million pesos

(767,000 dollars) in alleged illegal wealth acquired by a
military officer facing graft charges, prosecutors said
Friday.
The officer, Lieutenant Colonel George Rabusa, was
indicted in a Manila court on Thursday after an
investigation found he owned assets beyond what he
could have acquired on his annual salary of about
275,000 pesos.?

"As far as the government is concerned, we are going to

recover and forfeit all of his illegally acquired assets,"
said Ernesto Nocos, spokesman of the office of the
Ombudsman.?

Rabusa's wife and father-in-law were also charged with

conspiring and "serving as his dummies," the
Ombudsman's office said.?

Rabusa was investigated after his former superior,

then-military finance chief Major General Carlos Garcia,
was chargedlast year for amassing more than a million
dollars despite having an annual salary that amounted to
about 7,200 dollars.?

The charges against Garcia triggered a

 spate of investigations and charges into corruption in the
military.?
The Ombudsman also announced Friday that graft
charges have been filed against three officers and a
businessman over the acquisition of allegedly defective
submachineguns.?

A colonel, a major and a captain, all from the military's

research and development office, were
being charged with buying the 75 submachineguns from
businessman Victorino Floro for 1.5 million pesos, the
office said.?

The three allegedly gave Floro special benefits so the

guns could be purchased without the required test and
evaluation reports, the office said in a statement.

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