Garcia conviction didn't erase military corruption

Brutality and insensitivity marred the police probe of Ted Failon’s wife’s suicide. They barged like thugs into the hospital Thursday night and forcibly tried to paraffin-test Trina, who was then fighting for her life. Failing that, they collared and handcuffed her brother, for helping doctors stop the goony lawmen from crowding into the ICU. They then arrested a sister for obstructing justice because a housemaid — not her — had cleaned up the bloodied bathroom. They acted under a Marcos despotic decree that requires no warrant to pick up somebody for that offense; nobody arrested the Cabinet men who had muddled the ZTE scam inquiry. Ted’s household was grieving, and the cops could have just filed a case with the fiscal, who would then let a few decent days pass to let the family answer. But no, they were desperate to show they were treating the Failon case like any other, and so over-eagerly insisted on a night inquest. In the process they violated the sister’s civil rights: they did not read her the Miranda Rights, and even pushed aside a lawyer who had wanted to escort her.

The midnight before, cops picked up Ted at the house and made him undergo nearly eight hours of interrogation at headquarters. When finally allowed by the investigation chief to go, the deputy and the case officer cried to the press that Ted had escaped. It turned out that daughter Kaye, who accompanied Ted, had pleaded with the chief to let them visit her dying mom at the hospital. There was no time for them to waste. At one point, the case officer had made them wait three hours just for one sleeping superior’s signature. The cops were having fun in the midst of the family’s distress, taking snickering photos of themselves while questioning Ted.

Not to be outdone, Justice Sec. Raul Gonzalez ordered the issuance of a hold-departure on Ted, as if an escaped felon. The oaf claimed that an in-law of Ted had requested it. Given his vindictiveness and flip-flops on big cases, people cannot take Gonzalez’s word for it. He was just harassing Ted, likely on the say-so of a PR adviser who had been fired from ABS-CBN for loutish behavior.

* * *

You’d think that after lawmen went hammer and tongs at a thieving military comptroller in 2004, generals would dither to steal from the coffers. Think again. Records piling up with the Deputy Ombudsman for Military show some officers to be as brazen as Maj. Gen. Carlos Garcia in stealing. Clearly there’s been a glitch somewhere, between the plugging of bidding loopholes that Garcia had exploited and the ascendancy of new officers. A succession of scams has hit the headlines, including recruitment bribery by Army auxiliaries and overpricing of Air Force helicopters. One rocking the Navy appears to beat them all.

A supplier of cannon ammo swears that the bids committee set him up to be disqualified from a P65-million purchase last January. The modus was simple. The bids secretary told the supplier he didn’t need to submit one original and seven copies of technical-financial papers, but only the usual 1-plus-4. Informed twice that it was the vice chairman’s wish, he complied. On bidding day, however, the chairman declared him non-compliant with the new 1-plus-7 rule and thus debarred. Only one other bidder was left, who turned in an offer P15 million higher than the framed supplier. The vice chair shamefacedly admitted to having instructed the secretary to tell the supplier to dispense with the 1-plus-7 requisite. This info emboldened the latter to plead for reconsideration. But during the ensuing hearing, the bids lawyer coached the secretary to lie under oath. It was then that the vice chair whispered to the supplier that the members had been bought P1 million each to rig the bidding.

What’s it to us? Well, our soldiers could have used that P15-million bribe, if saved, for extra Navy shells to cover their assaults on terrorist or separatist lairs. Corruption can be deadly.

* * *

While citizens reel from the global financial crisis, officials are raking it big. Senators still have their P200-million pork per year, congressmen P70 million. Most ask for 20-25 percent cut to grant contracts. One senator is so greedy, however, that he demands 55 percent — 50 for him and 5 for his chief of staff. Now what kind of road can a contractor build, or medicine to sell, with “tong-pats” as big as that?

Local officials are into it too. In a town in Iloilo the mayor purchased two second-hand reconditioned dump trucks for P2.1 million each. His supplier, a close friend, had bought the units for only P200,000 apiece. The return on investment was “piso mo tama ng barko”. Thus encouraged, the mayor then ordered more second-hand items: steamrollers, backhoes, graders, luxury sedans, SUVs, and irrigation pumps.

At the public works office in faraway Cordilleras, officials are playing with P3.4 billion for the President’s “flagship projects.” About P700 million already has been stolen in overpriced and non-existent purchases.

Why are they so brazen? Because they know that investigators, prosecutors and judges can be bribed to clear them.

* * *

E-mail: [email protected]