It has been a rough year for the AFP, or Armed Forces of the Philippines. First it had to deal with retired Major General Carlos Garcia and the never ending fallout resulting from his queer plea bargain with the Ombudsman's Office. That sweet deal sank a good dozen high profile careers and has cost at lease one man his life, former AFP Chief of Staff and Secretary of National Defense Angelo Reyes who offed himself with a pistol in his mouth while visiting his mother's grave. As that macabre soap opera presented itself it became clear that every AFP Chief of Staff had commited embezzlement on the grandest of scales. This was not news to most, especially men in the field who have seen their best friends lose life and limb over shoddy training and even shoddier hardware just so the brass on Manila could buy an extra Gucci bag for a favoured mistress.
Garcia ended up in the slammer after all, albeit merely serving a sentence of 2 years Hard Labor for his Court Martial conviction in 2005. After that December 2nd, 2005 conviction, former President Gloria M.Arroyo sat on it for the remaining four years of her term. As the Commander in Chief of the AFP the President must sign off on all such convictions. Perhaps President Love Dwarf didn't want to stir up any hornets' nest given the propencity of old Miguel, her husband, to pile away public money. Garcia's 2005 conviction, for Articles 96 and 97 of the Articles of War weren't directly related to his raping of the Military's bank accounts. Article 97 is "Conduct Prejudicial to Good Order and Military Discipline," and related to an American "Green Card" that Garcia gained while serving in the AFP. Green Cards, or Residency Permits are a big no no in a country that only began allowing dual citizenship two years ago. The second conviction, Count 96, "Conduct Unbecoming of an Officer" relates to Garcia's failure to fully disclose his financial assets on two years worth of his SALNs. SALNs, or Statements on Assets, Liabilities, and Net Worth, are required for all Government personnel and are meant as a check and balance to inhibit the kind of nonsense Garcia got involved with.
In case anyone is unaware, Garcia is a former AFP Comptroller who squirreled away at least P303 Million ($6,250,000). In 2003 two of his three sons, Ian Carl and Juan Carlos, got a bit too greedy. Upon landing in San Francisco, California in the US, they were found to have violated US Laws by not declaring cash in excess of the $10,000 permitted by law. That would have been nothing to worry about, even with their stupidly stuffing $100,000 into a carry on bag,IF their mother, Major General Garcia's wife, Clarita, hadn't been so arrogant and oh so stupid.
As I noted in my Third Quarter of 2010 entries on the scandal, she approached US Customs bragging about her husband's position in the AFP. Seeing as how the AFP depends on American largesse, the American Government was more than a bit concerned and notified the Philippine Government. To make a long story short Garcia ended up on trial for Plunder, a charge that earns one a Life sentence now that the death penalty has been abolished. Although Garcia is the highest ranking AFP officer to ever go to trial nobody was really paying attention until he somehow got the Ombudsman to agree to a plea bargain that allowed him to walk out of jail with time served. That same day, December 16th, 2010, Garcia posted P60,000 ($1,100) and walked out of the courtroom a free man. Of course a whole lot of money changed hands but for whatever reason President Aquino decided to grind an axe and tried unsuccessfully stop the plea bargain.
Although the plea bargain was unassailable the issue ended up costing the Ombudsman, Mercedita Gutierrez, her career, and when (Retired) Lieutenant Colonel Geoirge "Snitch' Rabus atestified in front of a Senate Blue Ribbon Committee, ended up, as I noted above, costing Angelo Reyes his life. Rabisa was. The budget chieF within J6, the Assistant Chief of D
Meanwhile, our hero, Major General Carlos Garcia got to enjoy life. On September 9th, 2011 President Aquino finly signed off on the Court Martial. At 830AM on Friday, September 16th, 2011, Colonel Herbert Yambing of the Provost Marshal General joined by the Quezon City City Police Office arrested Garcia at his Quezon City home. Lodged into the ISAFP (AFP Intelligence Service) Headquarters at Camp Aguinaldo for processing, which included dishonorably discharging him from the AFP, he was then transported to Muntinlupa City and handed over to New Bilibid Prison for the requisite 5 day quarantine that all prisoners endure at the prison hospital.
On September 21st, his quarantine period finished, Garcia joined other new inmates in the prison's Reception and Diagnostic Center for another 55 fun filled days of waiting around nervously for their release into General Population. Not suprisingly Garcia found himself getting nervous and so his chronic hypertension began acting up. Because of Garcia's extremely high profile his warders rushed him back to the prison hospital. The powers that be then decided to cut his 55 days short and transfer Garcia to Building 11B on September 22nd. Building 11!, in the prison's Maximum Security Compound, is the building housing ex-AFP and PNP (Philippine National Police), a protective custody of sorts. Since Garcia would have ended up there anyway it made the most sense sinc the hospital also sits in that same compound.
Those two years will go very slowly for a man accustomed to doing what he wants. I hope Garcia feels every second of it.
Meanwhile, back in America, Clarita and her two semi-retarded sons are each out on $1 Million (P50 Million) bail for the little "discrepancy." It usually is dealt with the Internal Revenue Service, or IRS, but because of the political implications they arrested all three and held them without bail. In November of 2010 they were sentenced to time served plus two years probation. In addition ruined a third son's life to boot. Having just landed a dream job his world came caving in thanks to those two elder brothers. The Philippines is trying to extradite the two elder sons and Clarita but naturally they are fighting it tooth and nail. Complicating matters, all except Carlos had acquired US citzenship and so they, like any scurrilous American, now has the right to rob American taxpayers just as they robbed Filipino taxpayers. Let's hear it for Equal Opportunity Arrogance and Dishonesty!
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