ISAFP chief: No perfect intel network

"There is no perfect intelligence."

Military intelligence chief Brig. Gen. Victor Corpus issued this curt statement yesterday in reaction to allegations that there has been a failure of intelligence pertaining the recent rash of bomb attacks in Metro Manila and Mindanao.

Corpus, head of the Intelligence Service of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (ISAFP), claimed that even Israel, which has "one of the best intelligence in the world," could not prevent terrorists from carrying out bombing attacks which occur almost every week in that country.

"It is just unfair to put the sole blame on us," Corpus lamented.

He asserted that the ISAFP was merely one of four intelligence units of the military. He identified the three others as the Naval Intelligence Security Force, the Air Intelligence Security Group and the Army’s Intelligence Security Group.

Corpus also said the ISAFP has only P33 million in annual budget, representing 2.7 percent of the P1.22 billion intelligence fund allocated by Congress this year.

He pointed out that his unit has not received any budget increase during the past eight years despite growing threats from communist and Muslim secessionist rebels.

"From a peak of P42.6 million in 1994, the ISAFP’s budget has remained fixed at about P33 million a year. This despite increases in operating expenses and the need to develop new assets to counter security threats," Corpus added.

More than one-half of ISAFP’s operating funds go to foreign intelligence gathering.

He said the budget for foreign intelligence goes mainly to the Philippine military attachés posted abroad.

He said most of the intelligence information about possible linkages between foreign and local terrorist groups still came from within the country.

Corpus said for this year, some P16.2 million of ISAFP’s budget was allocated for foreign intelligence operations compared to only P4 million for local activities and P1.8 million for counter-intelligence.

Corpus also said that the Philippine National Police (PNP) has its own intelligence unit which gets about three times more in terms of budgetary support.

He said the ISAFP can pay only P5,000 a month to their civilian "assets," a euphemism for deep penetration agents and other informers who comprise the core of the government’s so-called human intelligence.

For this year, the ISAFP earmarked P4 million for technical intelligence which basically involved spying by bugging or intercepting telephone and other electronic communication facilities of the rebel groups.