P-Noy to name next Armed Forces chief

MANILA, Philippines - President Aquino will announce personally the successor of outgoing Armed Forces chief Gen. Eduardo Oban Jr. in turnover rites at Camp Aguinaldo in Quezon City today, a day before Oban’s retirement.

Presidential spokesman Edwin Lacierda said over state-run radio dzRB that he was “not given the clearance” to make the announcement since Aquino himself will do it.

“The person, I’m sure, has been informed of the assumption as chief of staff but, insofar as announcing it, it will be the President who will make the announcement,” he said.

Oban will reach the mandatory retirement age of 56 on Dec. 13.

Lacierda said Oban “has certainly served well” as AFP chief, but they have yet to discuss whether he can be appointed to another government position.

“It is something that… he is still young, but as to any future plans for him, I’ve never spoken to the President on that point,” he said.

“But certainly his contributions to the AFP are very important up to this time.

“It was through his leadership also that he was able to recover the standing of the AFP (among the institutions in government).

“One of the biggest contributions of General Oban as chief of staff was to be able to push through with the reforms in the AFP, especially towards the use of their budget.”

Lacierda said another noteworthy accomplishment of Oban was his emphasis on aboveboard transactions in government, which is “also consistent with the President’s line of accountability and transparency, and he (Oban) has been very accessible.”  

“He (Oban) has called on the AFP to cooperate with other agencies,” he said.

“Specifically also yesterday, this is also a good thing, where there is a greater cooperation and coordination between the security agencies and the human rights agency.”

 Earlier, Aquino said he would reveal the name of the next AFP chief on Dec. 12.

“If I’m not mistaken I’ll announce it on the 12th,” he told reporters last week in an informal interview at Malacañang’s Heroes Hall, after he awarded trophies to the national awardees of Lupong Tagapamayapa.

Aquino also said that he already has a shortlist of who will be the successor of Oban, a graduate of Philippine Military Academy (PMA) class 1979.

“We’ve been tackling (this) for I think about a month or a month and a half,” he said.

Oban remained mum on who would be his possible successor.

“I just forwarded all the names of the three-star generals,” he said, referring to the list of possible nominees.

Sources said Northern Luzon Command chief Lt. Gen. Jessie Dellosa of PMA class ’79 has the advantage over the rest, particularly because he served as tactical commander of the Presidential Security Group during the time of the President Corazon Aquino.

Dellosa was tactical commander of PSG’s Special Reaction Unit from 1988 to 1992, and eventually served Mrs. Aquino’s aide de camp. Contrary to published reports, he was never a close-in security of incumbent President Aquino.

Other contenders are Western Mindanao Command chief Lt. Gen. Raymundo Ferrer of PMA class ’77; Air Force chief Lt. Gen. Oscar Rabena, Southern Luzon Command chief Lt. Gen. Roland Detabali, Central Command chief Lt. Gen. Ralph Villanueva, Armed Forces vice chief of staff Lt. Gen. Reynaldo Mapagu, Western Command chief Lt. Gen. Juancho Sabban, and Eastern Mindanao Command chief Lt. Gen. Arthur Tabaquero, all from class ’78; Navy chief Vice Adm. Alexander Pama, deputy chief of staff Lt. Gen. Anthony Alcantara.

Oban earlier said stopping the anomalous conversion of funds is one of his achievements during his nine-month stint as head of the military.

“Based on the official reports I received, the controls we instituted are continuous,” he said. “What we are doing is really to eradicate the reasons or motivations (to commit anomalies).” Field units did not encounter problems even if the practice of conversion had been barred, he added.

Oban said reforms have been made by previous military chiefs to prevent anomalous transactions and to ensure the timely disbursement of funds.

“From the time of (former AFP chief) Gen. (Efren) Abu, there have been reforms even before the issue (on military corruption) surfaced,” Oban said.

“The impression is these things are still happening until now. But I did not find it hard to introduce reforms.”

However, Oban could not say if the practice of conversion was rampant during the time of his predecessors.

Conversion is a scheme wherein supplies to be purchased are converted to cash.

Military officers reportedly resort to conversion if they do not have available funds for unexpected needs.

The Armed Forces’ image had been tainted with corruption after former military budget officer George Rabusa claimed that ranking generals received huge sums upon retirement.

He said the giving of huge cash gifts to top officials is part of a tradition.

Rabusa revealed that some military funds had to be diverted to ensure the availability of the sendoff money.

He said former Armed Forces chief Angelo Reyes got P50 million in sendoff money while former military chiefs Diomedio Villanueva and Roy Cimatu got P160 million and P80 million, respectively.

The three have denied Rabusa’s claims.

Military officials have claimed that the corruption allegations are no longer happening and that reforms have been made to improve their systems.