Army general in Abu ‘ransom’ cleared, promoted

The defense committee of the Commission on Appointments endorsed yesterday the promotion of controversial Brig. Gen. Romeo Dominguez to major general.

Dominguez, who was at the center of controversy following allegations that his aide carried an attaché case filled with crisp P1,000 bills at the height of the military operations against the Abu Sayyaf in Lamitan, Basilan in June last year, breezed through the confirmation hearing.

"We were all satisfied with his answers on that incident," said Cebu City Rep. Raul del Mar, a member of the committee.

An earlier Senate hearing on the incident involving the escape of Abu Sayyaf members from a hospital in Lamitan on June 2 last year had already cleared Dominguez of involvement in the alleged payment of ransom to the extremists by their hostages.

Dominguez, who heads the military’s Visayas Command, was among those named by Lamitan parish priest Fr. Cirilo Nacorda of allegedly conniving with the Abu Sayyaf in the kidnapping of three Americans and 19 Filipinos from the Dos Palmas resort in Palawan.

President Arroyo ordered an investigation of the military to verify Nacorda’s allegations. However, the entire Armed Forces of the Philippines completely debunked the priest’s claims, saying his supposed evidence against Dominguez and five other ranking military officials was hearsay.

Dominguez, for his part, branded Nacorda’s accusations as "too much" and threatened to take legal action against the priest. Being the military commander in the Lamitan raid, he admitted bringing money to the Dr. Jose Ma. Torres Hospital to help pay for the treatment of his wounded men but he strongly denied that the money was his share of ransom from the Abu Sayyaf’s kidnapping activities.

No less than Defense Secretary Angelo Reyes had vouched for Dominguez’s integrity. Reyes said Dominguez and Col. Jovenal Narcise, former acting commander of the Army’s 103rd Brigade, may have committed lapses during the raid "but to accuse them of having accepting money is wild."

Just the other day, Reyes admitted the Abu Sayyaf bandits have been receiving staggering amounts of ransom for the release of their hostages, but he once again clarified that no military official received part of the loot.

Camiguin Rep. Jurdin Romualdo, chairman of the CA defense committee, said the military record of Dominguez is exemplary and his "satisfactory explanation" of the Basilan controversy facilitated the recommendation for his promotion to major general.

Dominguez, a classmate of Senators Gregorio Honasan and Panfilo Lacson at the Philippine Military Academy Class ’71, still has three years and six months in service.

He was among the group of 20 military officers whose promotion was endorsed by the committee. The ranking officers in the group are Major Generals Carlos Garcia, Alfonso Dagudag and Glicerio Sua, Rear Admiral Ruben Domingo, Brig. Generals Santiago Prejido, Jose Reyes and Felipe Berroya, and Commodores Jose Alberto Velasco, Antonieto Ferrer and Edgardo Israel.