That the United States government formally asked the Philippine government, through the Bureau of Immigration (BI), to place on a hold order the accused Maj. Gen. Carlos Garcia and to confiscate his green card, is telling enough, as only a dimwit would fail to see the strong message and the implications that such request carries.
This has to be taken in the context of Gloria Arroyo being the Commander-in-Chief. Holding that position, plus the fact that she sits as President, it was incumbent upon Gloria to place Garcia on hold order and even order the military hierarchy to restrict Garcia to barracks.
She did neither, despite the fact that she knew about Garcia's dollar-salting ways, having been informed of this as early as January-February of this year.
And worse, even after these charges were finally exposed in print, neither she, nor the Ombudsman, nor the military hierarchy, moved to restrict the movements of Garcia. He was in fact, inaccessible, and was even allowed to withdraw from the Armed Forces of the Philippines Savings and Loan Association Inc. some P19 million in just one day, and with the military brass claiming they didn't know about it until later, which is obviously another tall tale.
Garcia was claimed to have been in hospital Saturday for a respiratory ailment, yet the military brass took this casually, without even questioning why a military doctor was not consulted, and with the same brass not even bothering to inform the congressional committee that Garcia was in hospital, offering instead a medical report signed by a private doctor. No guards either were posted by the military. And yet Garcia is a flight risk.
It is to be noted that only after the US government asked for Garcia to be prevented from leaving the country did the military move to claim Garcia is likely to face a court martial if he hasn't been retired yet, which means he won't be tried by the military court, since he is retiring by Nov. 18, and that Garcia will be restricted to quarters, but with full access to his lawyers, something which the brass denied the Magdalos.
The military moving only after the US government did?
More to the point: Why did the US government go directly to the BI when the request should have been coursed through the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA), or at most, to Malacañang?
A guess would be that the DFA and Malacañang, as well as the military brass and the Ombudsman would have sat on this, as they did the first time the US government passed on documents and information on Garcia, his green card status and his dollar-salting methods. Didn't they do the same to the Swiss authorities' request to get the money-laundering dope on Nani Perez?
All this may mean the US government has realized that Gloria and her administration were not going to move against corruption in her military and in her government. After all, nothing was done that first time, when the documents were furnished by Malacañang and the military.
And if there is one thing the US government is overly sensitive about, it is the military aid it grants to a Third World country that is suspected of being swallowed up by corruption to the extent that the military, or security forces, which would have to include the police, become inefficient and unready to do battle — especially these days, the battle against terrorism.
It is to be noted that the Armed Forces quickly tried to dispel talks of US funds, such as those used for the Balikatan exercises, among others, being subjected to “conversion” into private pockets by the military brass. As one general put it during a recent TV talk show, the military may no longer be given US aid, if this is the perception.
This was also the US' beef on the Indonesian military then, which was perceived to be highly corrupt. There is no doubt that today, the Philippine military is in worse shape, corruption-wise.
Making the buzz in Metro Manila's coffee shops is that which points to the US' way of making its displeasure felt over the withdrawal of the Philippine contingent in Iraq by Gloria as she met the demands of the Iraqi terrorists, an act which psychologically hurt the US-led “coalition of the willing” and worse, perceived to have emboldened the terrorists into more kidnappings, and with ransom, too.
Whatever it is, it is bad news for Gloria, who to this day, has been trying hard to dissociate herself from the corruption in the military, as exemplified by Garcia, which is really stupid, since she is the Commander-in-Chief.
Truth is, she again missed the boat. There was that golden opportunity for her to show the nation and the world that she would not brook corruption in the military and in her family, officials and otherwise by ordering a full-dress investigation by an independent body and charging Garcia with the most severe punishment for his offense.
Instead, it is the US government that is now moving to get Garcia where he belongs.
Agree ako dito.
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