RETIRED ARCHBISHOP OSCAR CRUZ   Three lessons from Reyes’ death “First, please lead your life as you should according to ethical standards, moral principles and according to natural law. You do not get what is not yours and you do not steal. God only gave 10 commandments but two of these are about honesty. It is beneficial, profitable to live an honest and righteous life.” “Second, God is bigger that any sin. God is more merciful than any crime. Therefore, for those who have, for one reason or another, commit serious offenses, the only thing that they have to do is to repent their misdeeds and return the money, which is not theirs. This is the restitution that is mandatory because I may steal and say sorry but keep the money. The best proof of repentance is that you return precisely what does not belong to you. “The third lesson is that the higher the office given to someone, the more power and influence he exercises in society, the more careful he should be because public welfare and the common good are not the only things at stake here. Temptation at the top of the ladder is very big." NEW YORK TIMES Philippines Uses General’s Death to Tout Reform By CARLOS H. CONDE - Published: February 10, 2011 With the Philippines still reeling from the apparent suicide of a retired general who had been implicated in an investigation of military graft, a spokesman for the armed forces said Thursday that such corruption was a thing of the past. “We’d like to inform you and stress that reforms have been ongoing as far back as a decade ago,” the spokesman, Lt. Gen. Jose Mabanta Jr., said at a news conference. “Malpractice does not happen at this time.” He spoke two days after Angelo Reyes, a former defense secretary and chief of staff of the armed forces, died of a gunshot wound at the cemetery where his mother was buried, in what a police official called a suicide. In Senate testimony last month, George Rabusa, a retired colonel who had been a budget officer in the military comptroller’s office, had accused Mr. Reyes and two other former chiefs of staff of pocketing the equivalent of millions of dollars from a slush fund maintained with kickbacks from military contractors. Mr. Reyes was chief of staff in 2000 and 2001; he later became defense secretary. On Thursday, General Mabanta said the system that had made the slush fund possible was no longer in place. He said the comptroller’s office had been abolished in 2005 in response to a commission’s recommendations, and had been replaced by four units that operate independently of one another. General Mabanta also said the military had improved its rules and guidelines concerning the use of funds from the United Nations and other agencies. Mr. Rabusa had alleged in his Senate testimony that money from the United Nations to pay for the services of Philippine peacekeeping missions abroad had often been misappropriated. General Mbanta said the military establishment had been reeling from the revelations. “No doubt the armed forces has been affected by this series of exposés,” he said. “It is our soldiers who would really like to find out what has happened because we are the aggrieved party.” Mr. Rabusa’s revelations have gripped the Philippines, even though allegations of official corruption are far from uncommon in the country. Rep. Roilo Golez, vice chairman of the House committee on national security and defense, which is also holding hearings on the issue, said Thursday that while changes are indeed being implemented, there is still a need to investigate whether these are working and whether corruption has actually ended. “This is what we are trying to determine, so it is important that the hearings continue,” he said in an interview. Carolina Hernandez, a political science professor at the University of the Philippines who was a member of the Feliciano Commission that investigated corruption in the armed forces in 2004, said Tuesday that these revelations were not new, and she called the current hearings “hypocrisy of the highest degree.” “They’re acting as if this is the first time that this happened,” she said. “It’s been there since — I don’t know — time immemorial?” While there have been improvements, she said, the changes recommended by the Feliciano Commission and similar commissions in the past either were late in coming or not fully implemented. In January, the Department of National Defense promised to conduct its own investigation into the scandal to determine whether these practices were still being committed. Meanwhile, the family of the Mr. Reyes is considering filing charges against those who accused him of corruption, their lawyer said Thursday. The military has said it would give him full military honors. At his wake in Manila, dignitaries and former presidents paid their respects since Wednesday. In an interview over radio station DZIQ, former president Fidel V. Ramos, himself a former general, praised Mr. Reyes for his courage, calling Mr. Reyes’s apparent suicide a “daring sacrifice for the common good.” Mr. Reyes, he said, “tried to save the institutions that he represented.” He would not elaborate. Former Defense Secretary Orly Mercado Misplaced sense of “esprit de corps” to blame In an interview with the Inquirer earlier this week, Mercado noted a strong bond among generals in the ongoing congressional investigationof an alleged use of slush funds. “The concept of esprit de corps has been misinterpreted and misused in the military,” he said. “Esprit de corps is very important in combat because you have to help each other, but that’s during combat. You can’t cover up each other in fund irregularities. There should be no esprit de corps on the issue of graft and corruption.”... At present, he said, the defense department has no direct control over AFP funds. He said there had been instances when AFP requests for purchases, such as bullets, went directly to the Office of the President. He said purchases and contracts amounting to less than P50 million required only the signature of the AFP chief of staff. Those above P50 million need only the approval of the defense secretary. To get around the system, Mercado said the AFP resorted to “chop-chop,” splitting their requests into two or three purchases so that each purchase would not reach P50 million, and thus avoid getting his signature. He said there also was a need for transparency on purchases and the use of intelligence funds. “National security has always been the excuse in terms of secrecy, in terms of being transparent,” Mercado said. “Unfortunately so many of the problems we’re seeing now are happening because of so-called national security. I think more transparency is better than national security.” Aaron Favila/AP The Philippine national flag is displayed at half-mast Tuesday following the death of Gen. Angelo Reyes at the Armed Forces of the Philippines General Headquarters north of Manila. Reyes, accused of embezzling at least $1 million from the armed forces, died of a single gunshot wound in what witnesses described as an apparent suicide in front of his mother's grave.  February 8, 2011 A former Philippines military chief accused of massive corruption in recent Senate hearings died Tuesday, having apparently shot himself. The military corruption scandal has been a challenge for President Benigno Aquino III, who took office last year pledging to root out widespread graft, and has Filipinos thinking about their legacy of "People Power" revolutions. In 2007, an armored fighting vehicle and commandos smashed their way into the lobby of Manila's posh Peninsula Hotel, chasing after Brig. Gen. Danilo Lim. He was jailed for leading an attempted coup d'etat against then-President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo. Now retired, Lim says he still gets funny looks from security guards when he enters the hotel. But lately he has been feeling vindicated. Former army budget officer George Rabusa last month told Senate investigators that army chiefs of staff, including Gen. Angelo Reyes, had controlled large slush funds and received multimillion-dollar retirement gifts. On Tuesday, Reyes shot himself in an apparent suicide. Lim says that last July, he counseled Rabusa to blow the whistle. "I advised him that if he was going to talk about the corruption, this is the time to do it. We have a new president whose program is anti-corruption, a new political atmosphere," he said. Rene Macura/AP In this March 1, 2003, photo, then-Philippine Defense Secretary Angelo Reyes is interviewed at the Philippine Consulate in Los Angeles after meetings in Washington with U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld. Reyes died in an apparent suicide Tuesday. Some poorly equipped Filipino soldiers might be outraged to hear of graft among their commanders, but Lim says the Senate investigation has actually encouraged most of the troops. "I see that our men in uniform are happy," he says. "Morale is high, because this time we are openly talking about corruption in the military. It's a confirmation of what everybody has been talking about." Next month, Filipinos will celebrate the 25th anniversary of the 1986 People Power Revolution that toppled U.S.-backed dictator Ferdinand Marcos and replaced him with Corazon Aquino, the mother of the current president, Benigno Aquino III. The past 25 years have seen coup attempts, corruption scandals and other signs that the revolution had limited effect on the country. But pollster Mahar Mangahas says that since President Aquino's election last May, 69 percent of Filipinos surveyed are satisfied with their country's democratic process. "I feel like I've been waiting for this for 12 years," Mangahas says. "This is something that should come about every six years. But six years ago, we didn't have it. You know, it was as though ... we went through a presidential election and we did not feel renewed." After more than half a year in office, Aquino still enjoys 80 percent approval ratings. Mangahas says it helps that Arroyo, who is widely believed to have rigged her re-election in 2004, was the Philippines' most unpopular president ever. Enlarge Pat Roque/AP President Benigno Aquino III speaks during a peace rally Tuesday in suburban Quezon City north of Manila, Philippines. Aquino, who promised to root out widespread corruption when he was elected last year, has an approval rating of 80 percent. Aquino pledged after his election last year to create a so-called Truth Commission to look into graft charges against his predecessor. But the Supreme Court struck it down as unconstitutional. Ateneo de Manila University law professor Carlos Medina says that was a heavy blow to the new president. "It was like a flagship program of the president, at the top of his anti-corruption programs, because it was executive order No. 1. And he was really stung by the decision of the Supreme Court," Medina says. Critics point out that 14 out of 15 Supreme Court judges are Arroyo appointees. Aquino has also benefited from a robust economy, which grew at 7.3 percent last year, the fastest pace since 1986. But University of the Philippines public administration expert professor Leonor Briones warns that an angry and hungry underclass could rise up and wipe out much of the Philippines' impressive economic gains. She refers to the president by two of his nicknames. "There's a great deal of sentimental affection for PNoy, because of the mother," Briones says. "And he came in on a program of reform and anti-corruption. At this time, they don't associate their hunger, their joblessness with Noynoy." Briones notes that civilian and military leaders have seldom been held accountable for past corruption scandals. But she hopes it will be different this time. US NATIONAL PUBLIC RADIO COVERAGE Philippine Ex-General Kills Self Amid Graft Probe Click here to listen to this story on US National Public Radio Retired General's Death Follows Philippine Graft Probe By JAMES HOOKWAY A former Philippines military chief caught up in a corruption probe died after shooting himself in the chest at his mother's graveside, witnesses said Tuesday, an apparent casualty of a deepening effort across parts of Asia to stamp out graft. Witnesses interviewed by local radio stations at a Manila cemetery said retired Gen. Angelo Reyes sent his children to a waiting car at the cemetery before a single shot was heard. He was pronounced dead on arrival at a city hospital. Officials are awaiting the results of an autopsy before ruling whether Gen. Reyes—who was accused in a Philippine Senate hearing last month of accepting more than $1 million in illegal retirement payments—took his own life. Gen. Reyes, 65 years old and a former minister of both defense and energy, angrily denied the allegations. People who knew him say he was concerned that his family was being dragged into the Senate corruption probe, which, with the backing of President Benigno Aquino III's government, has widened in recent weeks to focus on other former army chiefs as well as United Nations payments to Filipino peacekeeping troops that were allegedly siphoned off by military commanders. Some analysts see the investigations as the Philippines' strongest attempt yet to crack down on corruption and reset its graft-ridden economy. Several countries around the region view fighting corruption as a crucial tool in upgrading their economies after years of neglect and thrusting them into the mainstream of international investment. Robert Klitgaard, an anticorruption specialist and professor at Claremont Graduate University in California, says that as up-and-coming economies try to move up the value chain and attract more sophisticated businesses and industries, authorities realize they have to do more to rein in corruption. Some Southeast Asian nations are attempting exactly that as they seek to counter the competitive threat from Vietnam, Bangladesh and parts of Africa, though how much success they will have is uncertain. Malaysia, where nepotism and favoritism have annoyed and sometimes deterred foreign businesses for decades, is acting more aggressively to root out a culture of graft that Prime Minister Najib Razak blames for retarding the country's potential. In recent months, prosecutors have launched several high-profile cases against government officials, including a former transport minister, Ling Liong Sik, who pleaded not guilty last year to creating nearly $1 billion in budget overruns at a massive port project near Kuala Lumpur. China's government frequently vows to step up efforts to tackle corruption, though often with little effect, while Indonesia, too, is attempting to bolster its graft-busting credentials. Last month, a court sentenced prominent tax official Gayus Tambunan to seven years in prison after he admitted pocketing at least $2.7 million from companies seeking to evade taxes. Now the Philippines, ranked as worse than Uganda and Nicaragua in Berlin-based watchdog Transparency International's annual corruption rankings, is stepping up its own campaign. Mr. Aquino, the son of the late democracy icon and former President Corazon Aquino, is providing much of the impetus. He was elected in a landslide last year with a "No Corruption, No Poverty" campaign that struck a chord among many of the nation's nearly 100 million people, and while some analysts have questioned whether he will succeed, or whether his efforts will distract from some other economic priorities, there are signs lately the effort is gaining ground. Finance Minister Cesar Purisima in a recent interview said the government is revamping everything from the customs department to local government procurement processes to cut down on waste and fraud. "There's a lot of corruption on the expenditure side. Fighting that is going to be a big part of the way forward," Mr. Purisima said. Few Philippine institutions are believed to be as wasteful as its armed forces. In recent years, junior officers have organized large mutinies against top brass, accusing them of corruption. In 2003, 321 soldiers led by Lieutenant Antonio Trillanes IV took over a Manila hotel and shopping-mall complex and threatened to blow it up unless the army's top-ranking officers and then-President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo resigned. The mutiny quickly collapsed after failing to win public support, although Lt. Trillanes was later elected to the Senate. Mr. Aquino was taken aback in January when state prosecutors offered a plea bargain with another retired general accused of embezzling $7 million, and instructed his attorney general to stop the deal, which would have enabled retired Maj. Gen. Carlos Garcia to serve a brief jail term and keep much of the money he allegedly stole. The controversy revived Senate hearings into corruption in the armed forces, and Gen. Reyes was implicated in the snowballing scandal when a former military budget chief, Col. George Rabusa, testified under oath that he was among the recipients of unauthorized retirement payments. Gen. Reyes, best known as the army chief who turned against former President Joseph Estrada amid a massive popular revolt in 2001, had to be restrained from confronting Col. Rabusa at the Senate. A similar investigation at the Philippines' House of Representatives resumed Tuesday, where Gen. Reyes, in a letter written earlier in the week, apologized for not being able to attend the televised hearings.   t is ironic that as we approach this twenty-fifth anniversary of the 1986 People Power revolution—with Egyptian demonstrators reminding us of the euphoria we Filipinos felt when we toppled our own over-staying tyrant—those celebrations will have to be dampened by the passing of an honorable man who saw death as his only way out of the corruption-ridden system that surrounded him. Retired General Angelo Reyes, who took his own life on February 7, was an officer and a gentleman...and a deeply troubled public servant. With each passing year it is becoming abundantly clear that the 1986 revolution—popularly known as EDSA I—was for the most part, a failure. Although Ferdinand Marcos was toppled from power, the changes people hoped would flourish never took root. Today, corruption is just as widespread, if not more so; bribery is commonplace; nepotism is thriving; a handful of families still control most of the country's wealth; and a growing number of Filipinos live on less than eight dollars a day. Amidst this grinding poverty, the rich flaunt their riches and further sow seeds of corruption as the less fortunate quickly realize that a quick way to attain that kind of wealth is to engage in illicit activities on the side. For low-level public officials this can mean receiving a 'tip' from transactions that cross their desk each day. For mid-level government workers it can mean favoring contractors who give kickbacks. For judges, it can mean rendering decisions based on who can pay them the most; and those lucky enough to be in the top rungs of government, the sky's the limit as to what they can do and the piles of cash they can make. Thus corruption in the Philippines has gotten so pervasive that public officials from the very top down to the Barangay Tanods can be in on the take. Numerous foreign businessmen and even diplomats have raised their concerns, the most recent being the country's Australian ambassador. But corruption exists only because it is tolerated. Corruption has become a fact of life in the today's Philippines. This is the world Angelo Reyes and every other Filipino now lives in. We accept it, we tolerate it, we look the other way, we pretend it is not there, and sometimes we even benefit from it. So if we are to be completely honest with ourselves, we know who really killed Angelo Reyes...we look at that person every day in the mirror! . ASIA TIMES STORY: Death be not proud in the Philippines >>> It isn't entirely clear why a former budget officer of the Philippine military, George Rabusa, decided to speak out against corruption among his former colleagues in the service...Whatever it was, his decision to testify on systemic corruption in the military has resulted in what many now say is a "catharsis" for the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), long vilified as one of the most corrupt institutions in the country. INTELASIA.NET STORY Philippine army's $459k slush fund bared     The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) chief of staff as well as other officials had ready cash for their personal and operational use--a P20 million (US$459,000) "sinking fund," a former military budget officer said. The slush fund was on top of the initial cash gift, monthly allocation and send-off money for the chief of staff. Appearing at the Senate, whistle-blower George Rabusa testified that the fund had been existing before he came aboard in 2000, and was replenished by skimming off allocations for salaries and operational expenses of military units. The conversion, he said, had the go-signal of military comptrollers and the knowledge of state auditors who received commissions. "That particular amount is intended for our superiors upstairs from the chief of staff to J6," Rabusa said at the inquiry into the plea bargain between former military comptroller Carlos Garcia and prosecutors in connection with the former's plunder case. Standard practice Rabusa said the fund was intended for the personal and operational expenses of the AFP chief of staff down to the comptroller. "We only inherited this," he said, indicating that this had been existing before the terms of three former AFP chiefs of staff--Angelo Reyes, Diomedio Villanueva and Roy Cimatu--under whom he had served as budget officer. At two previous Senate hearings, Rabusa disclosed the practice of giving an incoming chief of staff pasalubong (initial cash gift) and an outgoing one with pabaon (send-off money). The pasalubong was supposedly P10 million each for Villanueva and Cimatu and the pabaon was P50 million for Reyes, P164 million for Villanueva and P80 million for Cimatu. The amounts were in addition to the P5 million that the chief of staff was supposedly getting monthly. Kept in vault Rabusa, who was a lieutenant colonel then, said the P20 million fund was kept in a vault in his office. When he was relieved in 2002, Rabusa said he turned over the P20 million to his successor, then acting budget officer Col. Antonio "Sonny" Lim, who then turned over the money to then comptroller Garcia. Lim confirmed this, saying "General Garcia told me to turn over the amount to him. He will take charge of the amount." Garcia declined to say where the money went and invoked again his right to self-incrimination, saying his answer might be covered by two forfeiture cases he was facing in the Sandiganbayan anti-graft court. Skimmed off salaries Like savings in a bank, the fund had to be maintained at P20 million, otherwise it had to be replenished with skimmed off salaries and operational expenses in the Intelligence Service of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (ISAFP), Rabusa said. "This is like a sinking fund. When you compare it to water, and it reaches a critical level, you have to do something to fill up the bottle again," he said. Then Col. Victor Corpus was the ISAFP chief, the former budget officer said. Replenishment To replenish the amount, Rabusa said the budget office would convert funds for maintenance and other operating expenses (MOOE) and personnel services (PS) into the slush fund. When the blue ribbon committee chair, Sen. Teofisto Guingona III, asked him if he was converting funds meant for soldiers' salaries, Rabusa said: "There's no other source but the PS." Rabusa said his group was able to do this because of excess funds arising from the fact that the military had submitted a higher "troop ceiling" than the actual AFP strength on the ground to the Department of Budget and Management for the annual budget. Sen. Franklin Drilon, chair of the committee on ways and means, said that the budget was released to the military based on the troop ceiling, not on the number of troops in the field. Through a slide presentation, Rabusa presented documents that he himself had signed as budget officer converting ISAFP's PS funds into the slush fund. PS means conversion "If you see the term personnel services, automatic, that's conversion," Rabusa said, pointing to items in the documents. Hearing this, Guingona told Lt. Gen. Reynaldo Mapagu, the current AFP vice chief of staff: "That is something that we should look into, as we see it's a source of conversion for corruption." Common practice The practice of conversion had apparently become so common that even then Gen. Efren Abu had asked Rabusa to convert PS funds for the operating expenses of Abu's office, J3, which he then headed. "He asked for my help to free up the MOOE so he can use this to be released to operating units... I told him our only source is the PS for soldiers," Rabusa said. He said that auditor Divina Cabrera and by extension her immediate boss, then Commissioner Raul Flores of the Commission on Audit, were aware of the conversion of ISAFP funds for the slush fund. "Our auditor was aware of this," Rabusa said. But Cabrera, who was detailed with the ISAFP for 13 years until 2005, denied Rabusa's allegation. To refresh Cabrera's memory, Rabusa said that if the budget office had converted P50 million, it would have to release a P5 million additional allotment. Two percent of the P5 million or P100,000 was given to Cabrera. "She even asked for an increase, from 1 percent to 2 percent," he said. Cabrera again denied this. Special Prosecutor Wendell Sulit said she and the other prosecutors would consult one another on what course of action to take on what Guingona described as "strong accusations" against Cabrera. "I deny all the accusations given by Rabusa. I know that I did my job as auditor of the COA. I based all my audit work on the rules and regulations prescribed by the COA," Cabrera said. Rabusa also said that Cabrera introduced him to her "handler," Raul Flores, whom he met at Steaktown on West Avenue in Quezon City and SM Megamall in Mandaluyong City. He said he handed Flores an envelope containing P200,000 each time they met. He said they met at least three times. Rabusa and Cabrera are close friends. Cabrera said she did not ask for a reassignment from ISAFP because she only audited simple transactions covering post-audit liquidations. Auditors are assigned to agencies for three years. In the 13 years that she was assigned to ISAFP, she said the agency's certifications on the liquidation of intelligence funds were "in order." But the COA issued suspension orders "if we find discrepancies," she said. "I have heard of it," she said when asked if she knew about the practice of conversion. Loyola Grand Villas Cabrera, however, said that she did not find any irregularity in the liquidation of ISAFP funds because she audited only documents that were submitted to her. Under grilling by Drilon, Cabrera admitted to owning a P2.5 million house on a 600-sq-m property at the posh Loyola Grand Villas subdivision in Quezon City. She had the house built in 1992. Drilon then remarked: "If the COA is listening now, they may want to review the assignment of Cabrera to the Philippine Navy. Because she has been in ISAFP for 13 years. Now she's back again in the Philippine Navy, still with the AFP. I think prudence dictates that at this point when all these revelations are being made in this hearing I call on the COA to recall and reassign Ms Cabrera immediately." Rabusa reiterated that he and Garcia had "converted" almost P1 billion in 2002, and this amount went to ISAFP and J7. Asked if the release of portions of P1 billion for ISAFP, which has 1,000 personnel and 32 people, including attaches, posted abroad, did not raise alarm bells, Cabrera said allocations for PS were processed in the general headquarters, and only allocations for the PS of defense attaches were released to the ISAFP. Oversight In the wake of Rabusa's expose, seven congressmen composing the militant bloc in the House of Representatives Monday filed a bill mandating the oversight and audit of billions of pesos in government intelligence and confidential funds. Representatives Teodoro Casino and Neri Javier Colmenares of Bayan Muna, Luzviminda Ilagan and Emerenciana de Jesus of Gabriela, Rafael Mariano of Anakpawis, Antonio Tinio of ACT Teachers, and Raymond Palatino of Kabataan filed House Bill No. 4127 or the proposed Intelligence and Confidential Funds Transparency Act of 2011. http://malaysia.news.yahoo.com/ann/20110208/tap-philippine-army-s-459k-slush-fund-ba-018c6ab.html “MAP Insights” Column in BUSINESSWORLD – 8 March 2011     Improving Governance in the Military by Celso P. Vivas               Angie Reyes' select final words:  "I did not invent corruption. I walked into it. Perhaps, my first fault was in having accepted aspects of it as a fact of life . . . .While I am familiar with finance, I must admit I had scant knowledge of military comptrollership. Personally, zero experience. Never been assigned as disbursement officer, etc., no stint. It’s a military field of specialization that I do not have." (Source: “The Final Words of Angelo T. Reyes” by Malou Mangahas – The Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism)               Based on my years of experience in the accounting and financial field, I have observed that many high ranking officers who get appointed to the Comptrollership or Financial Management positions, be it of a profit- or non-profit-oriented entities or in government-owned and controlled corporations, do not have the necessary financial expertise and experience to handle the highly complex tasks required of these positions. Unfortunately, these finance officers are the ones who provide financial information to their superiors, who in turn make critical decisions based on the financial data submitted.    Many corporate failures are attributed to wrong decisions made by top management and directors, many of whom are not finance-oriented themselves and who merely rely on the representations of the Comptroller or Chief Finance Officer (CFO), the supposedly guardian of the integrity of financial data. Thus, if these finance officers are not experts in their own turfs, it becomes a ‘case of the blind leading the blind’. Financial fiascos ensue. Corruption creeps in. The Philippine Military establishment could be in similar dilemma. Its Comptrollership department is led and managed by officers with military background, but who are most probably without adequate expertise and background in the fields of accounting and finance, especially in government accounting.               Comptrollership, whether applied in business or military, is a specialized financial function whose responsibilities include, among others, financial administration, asset and facility management, contracting and procurement management as well as internal monitoring services. The function requires that the person responsible and the subordinates be adept in finance and accounting, particularly in government accounting and budgeting.  Modesty aside, we, professional accountants, even have to go for our masters degree courses to improve our credentials and be called ‘experts’ in the field. Merely being able to read and understand basic financial reports as a user is not enough qualification to become a financial implementer or strategist, like a Comptroller or CFO. Angie and the other military officers appointed to key financial positions might all be considered experts in military operations, but most probably are just neophytes in the field of accounting and finance.   The area of finance is not the military officers’ cup of tea. And Angie’s final words could probably be descriptive of the tight situations similarly faced by the other beneficiaries and  finance officers concerned, i.e. no relevant finance and accounting experience, no knowledge of budgeting, cash management, and so on.  They merely received compensations and other perks that the flawed system had generated, without ifs and buts and as the Comptroller’s office had computed …. a ‘way of life’ in the military. The Comptroller himself, being a non-finance person, might only have a vague idea, if at all, of the imperfect system, but without financial expertise, it is beyond his capability to think of strategies or approaches to address the irregularities, much less improve the internal accounting control system in the department.                         Adding to the complexities of undertaking finance responsibilities is the fact that there is no so-called perfect internal and operating control system. As a matter of business practice, internal control systems are subjected to regular review and evaluation to determine their continuing effectiveness and relevance. Internal audit departments are created by establishments. In government institutions, it is the Commission on Audit (COA) which assigns auditors to check and evaluate the internal control systems. Only highly skilled financial officers could effectively oversee the maintenance of a strong internal control system.   Thus, without a financial-literacy-laden and independent Comptrollership department, it would be extremely difficult for the Military to address its age-old financial ‘mess’. A strong and reliable department could serve as a solid deterring factor against any surge in perpetration of fraud and other irregularities as well as intentional omissions or misrepresentations of facts. The laxity in the technical requirements for financial literacy cannot therefore be ignored.  The field of accountancy and finance is the domain of the professional accountants.   Enhance Financial Governance Structure   Moving forward, to eliminate corruption in the Philippine Military establishment, to have an effective check and balance system in handling huge military funds and expenditures and for transparency purposes, professionalism in the Comptrollership office must be heightened. The Comptrollership function must be assigned to financial experts.  For instance, the department could hire a retired professional COA supervising auditor to head the department, or consider sourcing those retired senior managers or partners of reputable professional accounting firms. COA’s decision to strictly implement rotation of auditors every three years combined with heightened professionalism in the Comptrollership office would ensure proper accountability of funds, and possibly eradicate corruption.  More than anything else, there should perhaps be a comprehensive review and evaluation of the effectiveness of the entire Comptrollership function, done by professional consultants, in lieu of series of so-called ‘stop gap’ measures currently being undertaken.    (Finally, this article relates only to the financial area of governance in the military, and thus should not be associated with nor used in any manner to taint the operational integrity of our entire military establishment in serving the best interests of the Filipino people.)   (This article reflects the personal opinion of the author and does not reflect the official stand of the Management Association of the Philippines.  The writer is a corporate governance advocate and a financial and risk management consultant.  He is the Vice Chair and CEO of the Corporate Governance Institute of the Philippines and a Board member of the Canadian Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines.  He has an accumulated 40 years of background and experience in accounting, auditing and risk management. Feedback at map@globelines.com.ph.  For previous articles, please click <http://map.org.ph/members/mappingthefuture.php?dir=MAP%20Insights>).

	The Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism series on military corruption 25 years after People Power Part 1: On EDSA’s 25th, corruption devours the Armed Forces Sidebar: A 25-year rebellion Part 2: Petty, big, routine graft a lucrative trade at AFP Sidebar: A politicized military Part 3: Corruption talks trigger worry, debates in AFP Sidebar: Boots on the ground