EDITORIAL - Evasion

The most striking aspect of the case against retired Lt. Gen. Jacinto Ligot is how he could amass P459.6 million on a military comptroller’s salary – and that was just from 2001 to 2004. That was the income that Ligot and his wife Erlinda failed to declare, according to the Bureau of Internal Revenue, which is running after the couple for tax evasion.

If a comptroller in the Armed Forces of the Philippines could accumulate close to half a billion pesos in just four years, how much were their superior officers able to make? Perhaps comptrollers occupied a special position that allowed them to amass a fortune in one of the world’s most poorly equipped armed forces. The wife of another former military comptroller, Maj. Gen. Carlos Garcia, gave US authorities in California a detailed description of the sources of their vast wealth – mostly people who supplied goods and services to the AFP.

Following Garcia’s prosecution, reforms have been instituted to make AFP procurement transparent and plug opportunities for corruption. The reforms must be sustained and lifestyle checks must continue even on the current crop of officers who received assignments and promotions under the Aquino administration.

The other striking aspect of Ligot’s case is that he and his wife have reportedly gone missing after the Court of Appeals ordered their arrest on one of the counts of tax evasion, for the year 2003. Perhaps the Ligots are just on vacation in some remote part of the country. But if they are no longer in the Philippines, authorities should be taken to task for allowing two high-profile individuals to slip out.

If they have skipped town, they are hardly the first to elude authorities when warrants are issued for their arrest. Former elections commissioner Virgilio Garcillano was believed to have left the country at the height of the vote rigging scandal in 2005. Former agriculture undersecretary Jocelyn Bolante also gave the Senate sheriff the slip, evading a congressional probe on the fertilizer fund scam.

Even within the country, fugitives find it easy to hide. Former Maguindanao election supervisor Lintang Bedol was in hiding for many years before he decided to surface and talk about poll fraud. Authorities should do a better job of finding the Ligots and bringing them to justice.