What is "Conversion"?

Finally, a general explains what it means:

Congressmen yesterday managed to squeeze from military officials what they have long wanted to hear, that the AFP is indeed resorting to the illegal "conversion" scheme.

And it took a fellow PMAer, Rep. Amado Espino (Kampi, Pangasinan) of Class '72, to get the admission from Brig. Gen. Antonio Romero, AFP comptroller (J6).

"Does substitution exist or not?" Espino asked Romero in the latter part of the hearing of the House committees on defense and banks and financial intermediaries.

Romero replied: "Substitution exists your honor ... I do believe it's not legal."

"Everybody knows this except you, people," Espino retorted, referring to military officers at the hearing.

Brig. Gen. (ret.) Guillermo Picache, chairman of the Asian Institute of Strategic Studies, was invited as resource person to explain the conversion scheme.

Picache said substitution happens when a military command uses funds intended for a certain project for another project.

For instance, he said, a commander uses gasoline allocation for procuring bullets to be used in a shootfest or tournament. "Because of lack of funds, the officers resort to this," he told the hearing.

Another form of conversion is when officers get receipts from dealers as proof of procurement when in fact nothing had been bought. This called "ghost projects" where a dealer in cahoots with officers receives a 30 to 50 percent share.

"Conversion is like itlog-itlog, naging manok-manok hanggang sa maging baka-baka na. In my time in the Southwest Command, though, we did not convert ... if there was, I was not aware," Picache said.

Romero said DBM funds are released through major military services or units and that the J6, indeed, wields more authority over the funds compared to smaller units.

Espino then asked Romero: "And you don't care about what's happening down there?"

Romero replied: "We are, your honor ... as long as the funds are properly used."

Former AFP chiefs Dionisio Santiago, Benjamin Defensor and Diomedio Villanueva affirmed Romero's statement.

Of course, "conversion" is the kind of corrupt activity that would allow a guy like Gen. Carlos Garcia to "make" P185 million and own an apartment at one of Trump's buildings.

Here's Maceda again on "conversion":

Beside the usual kickbacks on AFP purchases, all AFP commanders are practicing “conversion” which means receiving cash for the operating expenses and intelligence purposes by just submitting advance requisition vouchers, fake delivery receipts and simple certification of having used the funds for official purposes. This is a direct robbing of the treasury.

OTOH, I find it totally disgusting that the Chief of Staff is still stonewalling the case. Why can't you be more like the general I cited above , General Abaya?

From Ducky Paredes:

Listening to the congressional hearing on the suspicions of widespread corruption in the military stemming from the unexplained wealth of a major general, among the most suspicious is turning out to be the chief of staff. He was given two letters, one written in January by the major general to an office under the US Customs explaining where the $100,000 confiscated from the son of the major general was to be used; the other to the chief of staff, explaining the same thing but citing a different purpose.

The chief of staff was asked to comment on the apparent disparity of the two letters and the chief of staff, after reading both letters, said that he needed more time to study the matter. Clearly, he is not being transparent! Why? What is he hiding? It was clear to the radio listener that the chief of staff does not want anything bad to happen to the major general. If there is widespread corruption in the military, the evasiveness of the generals testifying before Congress these days is perhaps one's greatest proof of this.