EDITORIAL - Common perks

While the Sandiganbayan deliberates on a plea bargain proposed by accused plunderer Maj. Gen. Carlos Garcia, it is useful to go over the statements of his wife that led to their family’s downfall. The statements given to US authorities by Clarita Garcia were meant to save her sons Juan Paulo and Ian Carl from trouble with the law as well as recover $100,000 that the two failed to declare and were then confiscated at the San Francisco airport in December 2003.

Clarita’s explanation of the source of the money provides a revealing glimpse into the ways by which immense wealth can be accumulated illegally in the military. The administration that came to power on an anti-corruption platform must see to it that the practices and perks are stopped.

The statements, given in June 2004, detailed how Carlos Garcia and his wife received “expense money… gratitude money… shopping money” from businesses in Europe and Asia that had won contracts to provide military hardware to the Armed Forces of the Philippines as well as Philippine contractors who won deals for military housing, roads and bridges. Clarita, in a handwritten statement, declared that the $100,000 was meant as down payment for a condominium unit in New York City where her third son Timothy would stay while going to school. Timothy, Clarita said, was spending $3,000 a month in apartment rental in New York.

That amount was several times greater than her husband’s monthly take-home pay as a two-star general. Clarita said it wasn’t the first time that their family had brought $100,000 in cash into the US, where her sons are citizens. In 2003 alone, she herself had brought in a total of $300,000, she said, and always declared the money.

Where did they get the money? From two corporations, a daycare, and her husband’s job as AFP comptroller, Clarita declared, which also gave her several privileges including a gasoline allowance of 4,000 gallons a month, security detail, five drivers and a military cook who could play the piano upon request.

The Bureau of Internal Revenue should study the ways by which the Garcia couple avoided payment of taxes on their businesses and informal income. It would also be useful to find out how much Garcia’s superiors knew about his activities, and whether any of them shared in the spoils. The “gratitude monies” her husband received, Clarita declared, were “common and unsolicited.” Authorities should see to it that this is no longer the case.