MANILA, Philippines -- (UPDATE) The Philippine Army lost close to P400,000 in cash when thieves broke into the safe of a finance office in Fort Bonifacio, Taguig City, in what the military says could be an inside job.

The report from the National Operations Center at Camp Crame said the theft was discovered around 8:30 a.m. Tuesday, right after the daily formation, when Sergeant Ernesto Silao entered the office and found the steel vault open and the cash missing.

The report said investigators found no signs of forced entry and the office lock was intact. The vault’s padlock, however, was missing, the report said.

This was confirmed by Army spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Romeo Brawner, Jr., who said in an interview that P376,000 was taken from the Finance Section of the Army Support Command (ASCOM) Headquarters.

The money was subsistence allowance supposed to be distributed to Army personnel on Tuesday.

The police said there were 18 soldiers in the vicinity at the time the theft was discovered.

The report quoted Silao as saying only two persons -- Major Ramon Torres, chief of the operation and intelligence section, and Captain Carlito Lachica, finance section chief -- have duplicate keys to the vault.

He was also quoted as saying the vault’s padlock had been defective for a long time.

But Brawner said the finance officer and finance sergeant, who he refused to name, were the only persons who had duplicate copies of the key to the vault padlock.

ASCOM chief Brigadier General Johnny Corcha has instructed the finance officers to replace the missing money, Brawner said.