Corruption scandals push AFP to initiate reforms

The recent corruption scandals that rocked the military have prompted the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) to institute reforms, AFP chief of staff Lt. Gen. Eduardo Oban Jr. said on Thursday. During Thursday's Senate blue ribbon committee hearing, Oban said when the AFP was tagged as the country's most corrupt agency the sense of honor of more than 100,000 soldiers was "scarred." "Never in the entire history of our nation has our Armed Forces been so disgraced. We lost what every soldier holds dear, our sense of honor. Having experienced this sense of loss has given us motivation to ensure reform within our ranks," he said. As part of the reform efforts, Oban said "internal audits have become more frequent and are conducted randomly." The audits have already identified 18 financial and logistical flaws – mainly on logistics, finance, personnel, training, discipline, as well as law and order, Oban said. "We conducted a series of vigorous workshops (and formulated) action plans (which) culminated (in) a two-day summit," he said. The AFP chief said the action plans include: