Air Force gags corruption whistleblower

Air Force authorities ordered whistleblower Col. Efren Daquil yesterday to stop giving interviews to the media and assigned security men to monitor his movements.

"Sorry, I am no longer allowed to grant media interviews," Daquil said over the telephone yesterday. "So I can no longer talk to you."

However, the Air Force denied yesterday that it had gagged the colonel.

"In fact, just in this day, he has given interviews to broadcast media outfits," the Air Force said in a statement yesterday.

"These actions therefore belie some reports that Colonel Daquil is being prevented (from) airing his views. The PAF has repeatedly expressed its desire for a transparent investigation and resolution of Colonel Daquil’s allegations, even to the extent of inviting all interested parties to check its records.

"It is fully confident that the complete truth will bear out… that Colonel Daquil’s claims of anomalies in the PAF are unfounded, and therefore vindicate the good name of the Air Force," the statement said.

It would not be in the interest of the Air Force to prevent Daquil from talking to the media, the statement said.

On the other hand, Air Force insiders told The STAR that security men were now monitoring the activities and movements of Daquil.

Daquil is under orders not to leave Air Force headquarters at Villamor Air Base without clearance from his superior officers, insiders added.

On Tuesday, Daquil told a clandestine press conference that Air Force generals and wing commanders had been enjoying allowances of P45,000 on top of their regular monthly salaries and other allowances.

The P30-million savings of his office when he was Air Force personnel chief in 2004, he said, "went to the office of the Air Force commander" without his knowledge of how the money was spent, he added.

Daquil, after being informed that he faces arrest for violating the chain of command, turned himself in to his superior officers at Villamor Air Base on Wednesday.

Air Force public information chief Lt. Col. Restituto Padilla said there was nothing irregular in the P45,000 extra monthly allowance being handed out to generals and wing Commanders. "The extra allowance is being used by our officers to maintain their respective offices," he said.

But Daquil said the Air Force must present documents before claiming there was no anomaly in the use of the P30 million in savings of his unit and the dispersal of P45,000 allowances to ranking officials.

"I myself have been receiving this extra allowance, though much lower because I was just a deputy wing commander," he said.

Daquil said a feeling of guilt prevented him from spending his extra allowance and he instead deposited the money in his bank account.

"I thought that if I am going to spend the extra allowance, I would be betraying ordinary soldiers who are out there fighting the enemies with only a P220 monthly combat allowance," he said.

If required, he said he was willing to turn over the money to the Air Force, which has now accumulated to over P100,000.

Daquil said when the Special Operations Wing (SPOW) was fighting the New People’s Army in Quezon last November, he had to shell out P5,000 from his own pocket to save one of his men.

"One of my men was wounded during the fighting with the New People’s Army, and had to be evacuated to the hospital in Lucena City for a much-needed blood transfusion to save him."

Daquil said he was dismayed to learn that the wounded soldier almost died because the Air Force could not pay the P5,000 for the blood transfusion being charged by the hospital.

"I had to personally shoulder the cost of the blood transfusion because I didn’t want to see one of my men die due to loss of blood," he said.

A graduate of the Philippine Military Academy class of 1976, Daquil’s last assignment was deputy wing Commander of the 710th Special Operations Wing based at Clark Field, Pampanga.

The 710th SPOW is one of the best equipped and highly trained anti-terrorism units of the Air Force.