Accused in AFP fund mess hits back

Former Armed Forces budget officer George Rabusa. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

An active military officer indicted for the alleged diversion of P2.3 billion in military funds on Sunday assailed the Department of Justice (DOJ) for “allowing” itself to be used by whistle-blower George Rabusa “and his gang” in their attempt to evade accountability for pilfering the military coffers.

Brig. Gen. Benito de Leon said the DOJ practically “coddled the real architect” of the military fund mess when it recommended the filing of plunder charges against himself and 10 other active and retired officers of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP).

“The records will show that it was Rabusa and his gang who enriched themselves in office and who misled the public and the prosecutors into letting them go scot-free,” said De Leon in a statement through his lawyer Florentino Legaspi Jr.

Legaspi said Rabusa, a former military budget officer, “perjured himself and (used) false statements to pin down innocent persons and exonerate himself from his criminal acts.”

De Leon and Rabusa were mistahs (classmates) in the Philippine Military Academy Class of 1981.

Sought for comment, Rabusa advised De Leon to prepare for his defense before the Ombudsman instead of maligning him.

“Instead of attacking me, I think it’s about time De Leon and the others admitted that they received huge sums of money. De Leon should explain how he used that money,” Rabusa said in a phone interview.

He also took exception to De Leon’s calling him the “architect” of the military fund mess, noting that De Leon had served longer than him in the AFP comptroller’s office.

“If what I said was not true, how come a retired AFP chief of staff (killed himself) after my disclosures?” Rabusa said, apparently referring to the late Angelo Reyes.

Reyes, who served in the Cabinet of former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, shot himself weeks after Rabusa named him at a Senate inquiry as one of the beneficiaries of the illegal conversion of AFP funds.

Legaspi said the DOJ should have considered Rabusa’s admission that he maintained several bank accounts into which he deposited millions of pesos that had come from AFP funds.

“These funds were under his absolute control and disposal. These admissions are enough to prove that Rabusa is guilty of plunder and should be charged accordingly,” the lawyer said.

Legaspi said he would file a formal motion for reconsideration of the DOJ resolution with the Ombudsman.

In a 105-page resolution, the DOJ also recommended the filing of plunder charges against former chiefs of staff Roy Cimatu and Diomedio Villanueva, former military comptrollers Carlos Garcia and Jacinto Ligot, retired Maj. Gen. Hilario Atendido, retired Colonels Cirilo Donato and Roy Devesa, retired Lt. Col. Ernesto Paranis, former J-6 accounting division chief Generoso del Castillo and former state auditor Divina Cabrera.