The scammed forces of the Philippines

For the second time in just a dozen years or so, the members of the Armed Forces of the Philippines have reportedly been scammed, Big Time!

You may recall that in the mid ’90s one of the biggest financial losses for soldiers were bad or questionable investments made by the officials on behalf of their retirement agency called the AFP-RSBS.

Back then the big scandal was about retirement money invested in golf courses and country clubs that reportedly earned Ex-AFP officials commissions and membership to play in exclusive golf courses deemed better than Villamor golf course.

As expected no one went to jail, no one returned the money, the golf courses and country clubs have degenerated into little known playgrounds of people and ex military who are unwelcomed in the decent and respectable courses. The saddest thing is that all the money put in for retirement funds were not restored or profited.

The worst thing I learned is that officials of the Armed Forces never learned their lesson and the government as well as lawmakers never bothered to study how this scam and dishonor to the AFP could be avoided in the future.

Last week, the AFPSLAI reportedly claimed that around P318 million of their funds, was invested with the Legacy group of scammers!

Investigate and legislate the AFP….

To begin with, the announcement or claim by the AFP Savings and Loan Association should be investigated and determine why they chose to announce the losses months after everybody else admitted that they were scammed by the Legacy group of scammers? The officials had a moral and legal obligation to investigators and the Senate to report their exposure as well as their risk.

There should be a law that provides for the immediate detention of such officials who delay, avoid or cover-up such incidents. This matter is not a simple case of obstruction of justice but an act that could have compromised the stability of the AFP or National Security. Imagine having an entire battalion of active duty depositors going berserk because someone intentionally denied the truth and did not take responsibility for bad judgment?

The second and most important issue here is the absence of a law that should prohibit government and government officials from creating their “own” business and their own economy in which they are incompetent or unstable. Just because a government service or an agency has so much cash does not automatically qualify them to put up their own bank or investment company.

Everyone thinks its OK or smart to put up your own bank, your own retirement board, your own housing authority by simply saying they would save money that would otherwise pay for the services of a real bank, a real insurance company, or a nationally funded housing authority. The projected savings can never justify the potential losses due to internal abuse and corruption as well as collateral damage to government and its personnel.

The reason you pay a service fee or a handling fee to a real company is because you pay for their professional and independent services that is often insured or in a position to back their decisions or their programs. The world system may have been shaken by the US financial disaster but many of the local banks, insurance firms and professional companies have managed to survive and maintain their productivity and commitments because they are competent and professional!

On the other hand, the AFP and many agencies in government have continued to be victimized by their own, as well as by higher -ranking elected officials who continue to make money from fraudulent or disadvantageous businesses or so-called services. People may argue that there is no safer organization than the government. The problem is we are the government and ultimately it is all our money that pays for the losses and the scams!

The bottom line is we need legislation that would prevent interest groups or officials from establishing their own businesses where they have no competence and where conflict of interest or anti-trust may arise. Government offices, services or the AFP in particular should concentrate on being the Armed Forces and not setting themselves up to be Scammed Forces.

The law should restrict transactions to specialists and established external service providers and not internal amateurs that can be bullied by rank or holler.

Corruption is endemic in the government. This being the fact, we should then place as many restrictions as well as check and balance concerning how government agencies and services handle or invest trust funds as well as salaries and cash disbursements.

The GSIS may be the ultimate insurer of the nation but do we have enough safety valves and check points to avoid questionable investments such as the BW scam that soured the integrity of the SSS at one point or bad judgment that may be suspect or tainted with doubt or accusations?

Given the fact that there are, one too many government banks and loan providers, it is time that the authorities such as Secretary Gilbert Teodoro investigate how best to realign the fund and banking requirements of AFP personnel so that such business, services and decisions can be removed and disconnected from the AFP.

The Department of Finance under Secretary Gary Teves should likewise investigate the structure and competency and how such units or services within the AFP or government have existed. Are they managed by competent professionals or just retired officials with clout or political muscle? Are they supervised and audited by the DOF or the BSP responsibly or have they become little Republics under little tyrants who steal the money? Obviously no supervision happened, because if they did, the P318 million would still be there.

It is time to protect the AFP and the rest of the government agencies from themselves. It is about time that officers, officials and legislators act before we find our Scammed Forces of the Philippines acting on their own!