MANILA, Philippines?A chief of staff of the Armed Forces under then President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has confirmed the existence of a multimillion-peso payola pot at the Camp Aguinaldo general headquarters, as earlier revealed by ex-military budget officer George Rabusa.

But the retired general said the pot, along with other fund sources in and out of the AFP, provided the military brass sufficient sums for their retirement so that, contrary to what Rabusa had claimed, an outgoing chief of staff did not need a hefty sendoff gift (pabaon).

?I realized we had so much money in the military,? the source admitted on Saturday in an interview with the Inquirer. ?The leeway given to us [in using funds] was more than enough to make us comfortable in retirement.?

The source asked not to be named at this time, saying he would reveal what he knew about corruption in the military at the proper forum. He said he was willing to testify at congressional inquiries into the matter.

Rabusa, a retired lieutenant colonel, testified on Thursday before the Senate blue ribbon committee that he and other top military officials shared an annual payola pot of around P480 million raised from various AFP units.

Also known as the provisions for command-directed activities (PCDA) fund, the collection was allegedly distributed by the comptroller at the discretion of the chief of staff.

The Senate blue ribbon committee?s inquiry is primarily intended to look into the controversial plea bargain between state prosecutors and ex-military comptroller Carlos Garcia, who is accused of plundering military funds.

?Like politicians?

According to the retired general, the PCDA fund did not entirely go to individual pockets. He said it was used mainly as a contingency fund for expenditures ranging from the emergency purchase of combat boots to expenses for a party or a funeral.

?You can?t imagine what it?s like to be a chief of staff,? he said. ?We are like politicians. People also come to us for just about anything you can think of. Since we have a very small salary, where do you think we get the money for all that??

In the process of farming out the PCDA fund, chiefs of staff set aside ?something for ourselves, too,? he said. ?These savings should be enough for retirement. No need for a so-called pabaon.?

Military officials have other sources of additional income such as travel allowances, the source said. He said chiefs of staff could get as much as $5,000 (roughly P225,000) for each trip.

With the trip organizers mostly taking care of the air fare and hotel accommodations, on top of pocket money, ?it means that an official can keep the allowance from the AFP for himself,? he said.

The source said that soon after he was appointed by then President Arroyo, he discovered that there was even an allowance for the wife and children of a chief of staff.

?My wife was approached and told to buy herself a new dress because there was a budget for it,? he recalled. ?We were surprised. So that was how things were going then.?

?Systemic? problem

The retired general said the problem of military corruption was ?systemic,? meaning it persisted from one administration to another.

He said the PCDA fund, in particular, was structured in such a way that it was prone to abuse by incumbent officials.

?Hindi kami lahat mabait. (Not all of us are moral.),? he said. ?You cannot dictate morality, but there can be safeguards that can make people toe the line.?

According to Rabusa?s testimony at the Senate, Angelo Reyes, then the AFP chief of staff, received a ?pabaon? of P50 million on top of some P100 million he collected from the PCDA fund in his 20 months in office. Reyes denied the allegation.

Asked on Saturday by phone to his safe house if he had evidence to back his claims against Reyes, Rabusa said: ?Susmaryosep. Kailangan mo pa ba ng ebidensya dyan? Narinig mo yung sinabi nya?? (Good Lord. Do you still need evidence for that? Didn?t you hear what he said?)

Rabusa was referring to the response of Reyes, who took some time before denying that he had pocketed millions of pesos in military funds.

?Can I ask Colonel Rabusa, if, during the time that I was chief of staff, I became greedy? Did I ask him for anything? Did I demand money from him, officially or unofficially?? Reyes said then in Filipino.

Longtime practice

Rex Robles, a retired commodore and a member of the Feliciano Commission that looked into corruption in the AFP, said it might be impossible to reform the military because the pabaon system had been in practice for a long time.

?The systems are too vague and too resilient to be changed and challenged. There?s a certain hopelessness in reforming the AFP,? Robles, also a former member of the Reform the Armed Forces Movement, told the Inquirer on Saturday in a phone interview.

He said reforming the military would need an Elliot Ness?a reference to the American lawman who took on mobster Al Capone in the 1920s.

Robles said the government should expand its planned investigation to cover all past AFP chiefs of staff.

?Why focus on Reyes? He did not invent the system. All previous commanders should also be put under the spotlight. If at all, Reyes is the least involved,? he said.

Robles said the Feliciano Commission, which was formed to look into issues in the military that led to the 2003 Oakwood mutiny, had recommended the strengthening of the powers of the Office of the Inspector General to investigate and prosecute erring officers.

He said part of the recommendation was the requirement that the Inspector General report directly to the President, as is the practice in the US military.

But the AFP never adopted the recommendation, he said.

Even Lipa Archbishop Ramon Arguelles, who headed the Catholic Church?s military diocese from 1995 to 2005, said the practice of payola in the AFP had been ?going on all the time.?

?Rightly or wrongly, I think they do that to all AFP chiefs of staff. That?s true also for the lower levels, at low rates,? Arguelles said in a report posted on the website of the Catholic Bishops? Conference of the Philippines on Friday.

?It?s bad but it?s going on all the time. It must be stopped because it?s part of the corruption in the military,? he said.

Pay the price

President Aquino is considering filing criminal charges against those found to have helped themselves to military funds.

?If [the allegations are] proven, why would we settle for administrative sanctions?? he said in an interview with reporters late Friday afternoon.

As in Garcia?s case, the President will not agree to any plea bargain with those caught with dirty hands: ?[If] you do something wrong, you will pay the price for it.?

He said he had spoken with candidates for the post of AFP chief of staff about their plans on addressing corruption in the military.

?There were many suggestions, among them values formation,? he said, adding that he had emphasized the importance of the prosecution and conviction of corrupt officials.

The President expects recommendations from the panels convened by the Department of National Defense and Department of Justice to look into Rabusa?s testimony, according to his deputy spokesperson Abigail Valte.

?Of course, the DoJ?s purpose is also for the filing of charges if somebody should be charged,? Valte said over state-run radio dzRB.

The DND panel is ?more of a fact-finding panel,? she said. ?The DND is more familiar with the systems of the AFP so it would be easier for it to gather facts about the allegations.?

Multiple probes welcome

Justice Secretary Leila de Lima on Saturday said the DoJ would conduct an extensive inquiry.

?If that is where the evidence will point to, yes, the probe will cover chiefs of staff other than Angelo Reyes, and for that matter, other military officers, as far back as the evidence will take us,? she said.

De Lima said the multiple inquiries being conducted by the DoJ, DND and Congress were welcome in view of the ?range and magnitude? of the military corruption expected to come to light.

On Friday, Rabusa told the Inquirer that he was preparing an affidavit detailing a fraudulent $2-million military deal that would implicate Arroyo, now a representative of Pampanga.

?While the possibility of variant results is always there, I believe that the existence of several probes by different institutions would yield real benefits or advantages rather than disadvantages,? De Lima said.

She said the advantages included ?the fuller ventilation of facts/issues and wider breadth of perspectives.?

De Lima said on Friday that the DoJ and the National Bureau of Investigation would look into Rabusa?s claims and determine if there was enough evidence to file charges in court.

Each distinct thrust

?Note that while each body has a distinct thrust for its investigative work on this latest scandal?Congress in aid of legislation, DND for fixing internal processes, DoJ/NBI for possible prosecution?the common goal is truth and accountability,? De Lima said.

She said the work of the DoJ/NBI panel was ?the most crucial for accountability purposes.? With reports from Alcuin Papa, Norman Bordadora and Philip C. Tubeza