Rabusa says Villanueva rented a mansion in QC for P1.4M

Former military budget officer and whistleblower retired Lt. Col. George Rabusa on Friday revealed that retired Gen. Diomedio Villanueva rented a house inside a posh subdivision in Quezon City for "secret meetings" with public officials while the general was still the Armed Forces of the Philippines chief of staff. During Friday's Senate inquiry on the "pabaon" (sendoff money) controversy, Rabusa recalled that he had scoured Metro Manila for an "alternative" place for Villanueva's meetings and found one inside the Acropolis Subdivision in Libis, Quezon City. Rabusa said he initially searched for a house in White Plains and Valle Verde subdivisions because he was instructed to find one in the vicinity of the AFP headquarters at Camp Aguinaldo. Also, he noted that the AFP's chief of staff is actually staying in the so-called "White House" inside Camp Aguinaldo. Rabusa said he was the one who paid the broker, who he refused to identify, P120,000 in monthly rental, or a total of P1.44 million for a one-year rent. Asked where they sourced the payment for the rent, Rabusa said: "From the funds that we are converting to ISAFP [Intelligence Services of the AFP]." Rabusa said he was a member of a convoy that inspected the house. Villanueva, his executive assistant Col. Hilario Atendido, and now embattled former military comptroller Maj. Gen. Carlos Garcia, who is facing plunder charges, were also in the convoy. Rabusa said he even handed to Atendido the key to the two-storey house. Villanueva confirmed that he indeed rented the property but said he only used it for "about one to two months" and never for a year. He said the house was leased toward the end of his term as chief of staff in 2002, and not as early as he assumed the post as AFP chief of staff. Meanwhile, Garcia confirmed to senators that he was indeed with Rabusa when they conducted an ocular inspection of the rented property. Unlike Garcia, Atendido denied he was with the convoy and claimed to have never seen the house, a photograph of which was projected on a screen at the Senate session hall. Secret meeting Rabusa said he had no idea why the place was rented, adding that his only job in joining the convoy was to pay the broker the rental. Asked by Sen. Jinggoy Estrada about the purpose of renting the Acropolis property, Villanueva said: "Doon ko mini-meet ang ibang political leaders... I also used to see them unofficially." Asked if the meetings were official businesses, Villanueva said: "Some sort of." "Ang sabi ko kasi doon na natin i-meet ang mga governor na iyan para hindi rin sila makikita sa publiko," Villanueva said, refering to some governors in Mindanao, where the military concentrates its anti-insurgency operations. He said meetings with politicians was part of his job as AFP chief of staff. "Partly, may pagka-politican ka rin eh kasi kasama mo sila sa labanan sa Mindanao... So you have to be in good graces with them," Villanueva said. — LBG, GMA News