DND committee seeks probe of ‘certain individuals’ in graft-tainted AFP

MANILA, Philippines—A Department of National Defense committee has recommended a further investigation of “certain individuals” in the military who “might have committed transgressions or irregularities,” an official said Tuesday.

This as the DND committee recommended the formation of an acquisition bureau under the DND in a bid to stamp out corruption in the military, said DND spokesman Director Eduardo Batac.

“The committee is not in a position to prosecute,” said Batac, adding that the committee formed in January to look into the allegations of massive corruption in the military would send a report of its findings to the Office of the Ombudsman.

“(The) recommendation is to further investigate certain individuals who might have committed transgressions or irregularities in the different systems that have been reviewed and a report will be forwarded to the Ombudsman for the military for this particular office to take action on these recommendations,” Batac told reporters.

Asked to name the officials cited in the report for further investigation, Batac said he would let the committee to make the disclosure even as he maintained the allegations against them have yet to be proven.

Batac also said that the formation of the Defense Acquisition Bureau is among the 10 recommendations contained in the 100-page report of the DND committee.

This means that the logistics arm of the Armed Forces of the Philippines—including the offices of the internal audit, inspector general and the Judge Advocate General, which have review, oversight and investigative functions over the military’s logistics and finance—will have to be elevated to the DND, Batac said. He said doing so would professionalize the procurement and eliminate unnecessary burden on the military leadership.

“The move is to take this out of the chain of command because it has been observed that the offices become ineffective because they report for example to the chief of staff, the chief of staff is concerned about the operations of the AFP and to a certain extent the accomplishment of the mission sometimes overrides all other considerations like the observance of proper procedures necessary for management control and information,” Batac said.

He said the committee sought for a more stringent implementation of rules and regulations of procurement. At the same time, Batac said the committee recommended the audit of the AFP’s intelligence funds. The other recommendations are:

• The computerization and automation of the logistics and financial management system of the AFP

• Improve the auditing and monitoring mechanisms of the military to include asset disclosure and lifestyle checks

• Continuation of the education and morality enhancement program

• Reconstruction of the AFP’s financial and logistics documentation.