Malacañang open to lifestyle check on ex-AFP chiefs

Malacañang is open to the proposed lifestyle check on former Armed Forces chiefs of staff in order to curb the supposed corruption in the military, but is not keen on ordering such investigation. “Well, it will not hurt certainly, because it helps to eliminate people who may have been, who are subject of these [corruption] allegations. It will not hurt," deputy presidential spokesperson Abigail Valte said at a press briefing on Monday. The proposal came from Sen. Miriam Defensor Santiago, who said former military chiefs, including former President Fidel Ramos and her own brother General Benjamin Defensor, should be subjected to a lifestyle check. Santiago made the proposal following reports of an alleged practice in the military — bared by former military budget officer Lt. Col. George Rabusa last week — of giving millions of pesos worth of cash gifts to retiring chiefs of staff as “pabaon" (send-off money). Wait and see Valte, however, said Malacañang, as of now, has no plans of initiating moves to have former military chiefs undergo lifestyle check. “We will have to see first what the basis of the request of a lifestyle check is." She noted that President Benigno Aquino III remains true to his campaign promise to stamp out corruption in the government. “We have always said from day one that this is one of the pillars of his administration," she said. She added that they are waiting for Rabusa “to come out with the rest of his allegations." “We will assess (it) in order to move forward," Valte said. Cimatu She also said the Palace will let former military chief and now Ambassador Roy Cimatu answer Rabusa’s allegation that he too benefited from corruption in the AFP. Cimatu is the head of the Presidential Middle East Preparedness Committee who is now tasked to oversee the situation of Filipinos in violence-stricken Egypt. “I think we’ll let Ambassador Cimatu answer those particular allegations but as of the moment, Ambassador Cimatu is on his way to Egypt as part of the three-man crisis team that the Department of Foreign Affairs put together," said Valte. At a Senate hearing last week, Rabusa said Cimatu and another former AFP chief, Diomedio Villanueva, received P10 million each as “start-up fund" when they became overall head of the military. - KBK, GMANews.TV