We support Ms. Heidi Mendoza as a Pinoy hero!

My readers know too well how I support our Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) especially against the overwhelming propaganda by the media supporters of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP), its armed wing the New People’s Army (NPA), and its allied front organizations because without the military… it would be you and me fighting those Godless ideologues in the hills, whose aim is to change our political system of governance from the present Presidential, but centralized form into a Communist State.

If at all, I have always wondered why it has taken our Armed Forces too long to neutralize all our internal enemies, especially the NPA when they are a motley band of terrorists who doesn’t want to fight face-to-face. Perhaps one of the reasons why our military hasn’t neutralized the CPP-NPA stems from the corruption within the military. Proof of the pudding is in the eating… when former Armed Forces Comptroller Gen. Carlos Garcia was charged for plunder… which ended in a more scandalous plea bargaining scheme in order to escape a bigger punishment.

Like a person diagnosed with cancer, when surgeons open up this person, only then would they learn that the cancer has spread to other parts of the body. The case of Gen. Garcia, has now spread to other AFP officers when a new witness in the person of ex-military Budget Officer Lt. Col. George Rabusa spilled the beans on former Armed Forces of the Philippines Chief Angelo Reyes that he got a “Pabaon” worth P50 million as a parting gift. Of course Gen. Reyes vehemently denied this accusation and has since filed a libel case against Lt. Col. Rabusa.

Enter another star witness, this time in the person of former State Auditor Ms. Heidi Mendoza who appeared in the House hearing and revealed that P270 million from the AFP funds are missing — that the check slated for Filipino troops sent abroad for UN Peacekeeping mission was personally picked up by a military officer. Add the accusation by Lt. Col. Rabusa that former AFP Chief Diomedio Villanueva and other AFP Chiefs got kickbacks from a $2 million deal for an Israel drone. Again, these AFP Chiefs went to the hearing to deny all these allegations.

I’m one person who believes in that old dictum, “when there’s smoke, there’s fire.” Hence I would like to believe that ordinary folk like Ms. Heidi Mendoza wouldn’t dare peddle lies in a Congressional hearing unless she has proof of such wrongdoings. I’m sure that Lt. Col. Rabusa knows too well whose toes he is stepping on… and that these retired AFP Chiefs still have a lot of clout within the military and could do him physical harm. This is why the Philippine government must now put Ms. Heidi Mendoza and Lt. Col. Rabusa in the government’s Witness Protection Program because I have no doubt that their lives are in real danger.

I have to admire and support Ms. Heidi Mendoza for having the guts and the courage to expose these shenanigans in the AFP. What she has revealed to us is real proof of the corruption within the AFP that was once only talked in hushed tones. Thus it is unfortunate that these dramatic revelations cast a dark cloud with all the AFP Chiefs who have since retired.

Those former AFP Chiefs who made public denials the other day may have said their piece. But this doesn’t clear their names until and unless someone says that they are in the clear. We have to make exception to those Generals whose families went into some kind of business venture. I just hope that their names get cleared sooner if not later.

It just makes me wonder what the ordinary soldier who reads those news reports or watches the TV reports on the Congressional hearings must be thinking these days. The ordinary Filipino soldier is dirt poor and his salary places him within the poverty line. Yet some of their officers, who bark orders from the comfort of their offices, live luxurious lives because they got monies that even the ordinary Filipino businessman could earn in years.

It was heartening to hear Ms. Mendoza say, “I came to this hearing to tell the Filipino people that not all soldiers or government employees are corrupt! They are merely making an honest day’s living.” Indeed this is true, which is why corruption shouldn’t take root in our government because there are a lot of people who would report these corrupt officials. Alas, the opposite is true. Instead of reporting these corrupt officials, many government employees choose to remain silent for fear of losing their jobs.

Perhaps it is high time for Congress to come up with a law that protects these whistleblowers from getting fired if they reported any corrupt deals within their offices. We salute Ms. Heidi Mendoza and Lt. Col. Rabusa for their courage. I call her a true Filipino hero! I hope their expose is the beginning of the end of corruption within our military establishment.

* * *

For email responses to this article, write to [email protected] or [email protected]. His columns can be accessed through www.philstar.com.