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Chiz blames AFP corruption on ‘internal syndicate’


A lawmaker on Thursday blamed the alleged corrupt practices of some former ranking military officials on a “syndicate" operating within the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP). Sen. Francis “Chiz" Escudero said the syndicate’s operations involved officials from the now defunct AFP deputy chief of staff for comptrollership (J6). “Ayaw kong pangunahan ang pagdesisyon at pagpasya sa bagay na ito pero sa ngayon ang nabubuo sa aking isip ay ito (I don’t want to preempt the findings but this is what I think)," said Escudero, chairman of the Senate committee on national defense and security. One of the former comptrollers of the AFP, Carlos Garcia, is facing a plunder case before the Sandiganbayan. His predecessor, Jacinto Ligot, was also accused of amassing ill-gotten wealth while in service. Escudero said from the way he sees it, it was the J6, on its own, which approached AFP and Defense officials and offered them monthly payoffs amounting to millions of pesos. “Kung ating susuriin tila hindi naman utak yun secretary of national defense sa mga ginagawa ng mga nasa budget at comptrollership ng AFP," he said. (If you look at it closely, the brains behind the illegal activities was not the Defense secretary but those within the budget and comptrollership of the AFP.) A former Defense secretary, Angelo Reyes, committed suicide Tuesday morning, days after he faced a Senate hearing where he was accused of receiving some P100 million in payoffs during his brief stint as AFP chief from 2000 to 2001. The J6 was abolished in 2004 following the scandal involving Garcia. It was replaced by the office of the AFP Resource Management Office, office of the AFP Management and Fiscals Office, and the office of the AFP Internal Auditor. — Kimberly Jane Tan/KBK, GMA News

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