Former AFP chief charged with corruption over ill-gotten wealth

The government aims to seize some P11.262 million in cash and property allegedly amassed by retired Gen. Lisandro Abadia while he was still Armed Forces chief.

Special Prosecutor Dennis Villa Ignacio has filed forfeiture proceedings against Abadia and his wife, Violeta, before the Sandiganbayan after charging him with corruption.

"(There is) more than a reasonable ground to charge former Armed Forces chief of staff, retired general Lisandro, with corruption," the Office of the Ombudsman said in a statement.

Abadia said he had sold real estate to augment his income, but failed to submit any proof to the Office of the Ombudsman.

Abadia is so far the highest-ranking former military official to be charged with corruption in the government’s campaign to rid the Armed Forces of crooked officials.

In a 10-page petition for forfeiture, the government urged the anti-graft court to order Abadia to show cause why the properties in question should not be seized in favor of the government.

"Considering that Abadia’s declared net worth as of December., 1993 per his statement of assets and liabilities is P13.6 million, and comparing his computed net worth of P2.3 million, Abadia clearly has accumulated unexplained wealth of P11.2 million," the prosecutors said.

Investigators of the Office of the Ombudsman did not accept Abadia’s justification that he earned P2.5 million in 1992 after he and his wife sold real estate property.

Ombudsman Simeon Marcelo rejected Abadia’s defense that he earned P3.2 million in 1993 after selling 10,000 shares in Antipolo Properties Inc.

"If, indeed, full payment was received for shares’ prior sale, his SAL for 1992 would have reflected an amount receivable corresponding to the payments," he said.

"However, based on his 1992 SAL, which is under oath, no such accounts receivable was reflected."

Marcelo said Abadia also failed to justify his P4.2 million income in 1993 from the purported sale of shares in Palawan Oil and Gas Corp.

"Assuming … the existence of the transaction, Abadia himself stated under oath that the sale in transactions happened in 1994, and that these incomes were earned in 1994," he said.

"Accordingly, the said alleged income of P4.2 million for 1994 should not be included in the computation of his legitimate income for 1993 and cannot be used to justify the huge increase in his net worth."

Meanwhile, the Sandiganbayan reset yesterday’s scheduled arraignment of retired Maj. Gen. Carlos Garcia to July 27 after his lawyers’ motion to quash remained unresolved.

Justices Edilberto Sandoval, Francisco Villaruz, and Rodolfo Ponferrada said the evidence that the Office of the Ombudsman had presented against the Garcia family showed that they had merely been "beneficiaries" of ill-gotten wealth.

Garcia has been charged with plunder, along with his wife and three children, for allegedly accumulating P303.2 million in ill-gotten wealth when he was Armed Forces comptroller.

His co-accused — his wife, Clarita, and their children, Ian Carl, Juan Paolo and Timothy Mark — have not been arrested.

Garcia is detained at the Philippine National Police headquarters in Camp Crame, Quezon City.

Garcia was the first military official to be indicted in a crackdown on the graft-ridden military equipment and supplies procurement system.

On the other hand, junior and mid-level military officers are agitated over reports that some military officials have been involved in electoral fraud.

Sen. Rodolfo Biazon told reporters yesterday he had met with junior military officers last Saturday to hear their grievances about anomalies in last year’s elections.

"There is agitation among members of the Armed Forces of the Philippines," he said.

"I have talked to some junior officers, higher middle-level ranking officers, including some generals and they are agitating for an investigation of the names in the tapes who may have participated in (the alleged fraud during the) last polls."

Biazon, a former Armed Forces chief, said the officers, some of whom had ranks of brigadier general and major general, were concerned about the supposed involvement of some ranking military officers in the alleged rigging of the 2004 elections.

"These are questions that we must face and cannot sweep under the rug," he said. "It is a matter of what must be done. Show that the institutions are still working to correct what is wrong."

Biazon said that the junior military officers are considering resigning en masse from the service if an investigation is not conducted.

"When they hear that some senior officers have been used as political tools and possibly participated in the conduct or commission of election fraud, they are mad and demanding... the investigation of those people, especially when they hear that some of these people, instead of being investigated, are, according to their words, being rewarded for such acts," he said.

As chairman of the Senate committee on national defense and security, Biazon said he was asked by the junior officers to conduct an investigation into allegations that military officials took part in electoral fraud. — With Marvin Sy, AFP