Lt. Col. Ramon Zagala. FILE PHOTO
MANILA, Philippines—After one former chief of the Presidential Security Group was tagged in the Priority Development Assistance Fund Scam or pork barrel scam, the Armed Forces of the Philippines said that they don’t have any jurisdiction over any soldier who retires from their organization.
Lieutenant Colonel Ramon Zagala, AFP Public Affairs Office chief, told INQUIRER.net that retired General Rodolfo Diaz would not be answerable to the AFP.
Diaz was accused of bribing Benhur Luy to drop the charges against Janet Lim-Napoles.
“We don’t have jurisdiction over him whatsoever when he retired from service,” Zagala said. “The bribe happened when he was in retirement.”
Diaz retired in 2001 and the alleged bribing incidents happened in 2013, long after Diaz was out of the uniform.
Zagala said that any soldier who retires has their “democratic freedom” retained and can do whatever he pleases.
In an article published in the Philippine Daily Inquirer, Diaz was said to have met with Napoles’ lawyer Alfredo Villamor, and Luy’s then legal counsel Levito Baligod at the Sulu Hotel on March 25, 2013.
Diaz, who was the chief of the PSG during then president and now Manila Mayor Joseph Estrada, acted as Napoles’ emissary in a failed attempt to negotiate with Luy’s camp to drop the serious illegal detention case against the alleged pork scam queen.
“Like any private citizen, he can do whatever he wants, as long as it is within the law,” Zagala said.
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