Former military budget officer Lt. Col. George Rabusa postponed on Wednesday the filing of his complaint-affidavit slapping plunder charges against former members of the Armed Forces of the Philippines' top brass. "I haven't finished the affidavit yet. It's too long," Rabusa said in a phone interview with GMA News Online. Rabusa had earlier filed an affidavit and a supplemental affidavit, but these were for his application for coverage under the Department of Justice's Witness Protection Program. The more comprehensive complaint-affidavit Rabusa was supposed to submit on Wednesday will set in motion the DOJ's preliminary investigation into alleged corruption in the military. Once the DOJ determines there is probable cause to file charges against the respondents, the department will lodge the appropriate cases before the proper courts. Earlier this week, Rabusa said he would file plunder charges against several personalities he had linked to alleged corruption in the military, including:
former military chiefs of staff Diomedio Villanueva and Roy Cimatu; former military comptrollers Jacinto Ligot and Carlos Garcia, who is also being tried at the Sandiganbayan for a P303-million plunder suit filed against him by the Office of the Ombudsman. Also to be included among the respondents according to Rabusa are the executive assistants of the said officials, former Intelligence Service, Armed Forces of the Philipines (ISAFP) auditor Divina Cabrera of the Commission on Audit, and other state auditors previously assigned to the military. The other charges to be filed against them "depend on the gravity of their offenses," Rabusa said. He declined to identify the other respondents. Rabusa blew the whistle on alleged corrupt practices in the military, such as the tradition of giving pabaon (send-off gift) to retiring AFP chiefs, and pasalubong to their successors. Rabusa said former Defense Secretary Angelo Reyes, also a former military chief, was supposed to be included on the charge sheet, but Reyes' death last Feb. 8 extinguished all his criminal liabilities. Reyes took his own life days after Rabusa alleged he received a P50-million pabaon when he retired in 2001. — Sophia Dedace/RSJ, GMA News 
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