MANILA, Philippines – Defense Assistant Secretary for Comptrollership Ernesto Boac has offered to resign or go on indefinite leave after he was tagged in the amended plunder complaint filed by military whistleblower George Rabusa.
Boac said resigning or going on leave would allow him to answer the allegations leveled against him. He said he had already informed Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin about the options he is considering.
“Among the options that I gave him (Gazmin) is that I will file my resignation, the second is to go on an indefinite leave without pay so that this will also give the opportunity to prepare myself to answer the allegations,” Boac said in a press briefing today.
“I leave that to the secretary of national defense to make the decision,” he added.
When asked if he was indeed involved in the misuse of military funds, Boac said: “That is a direct question which I have to answer in the proper venue.”
“I cannot deny something that I have not seen, as of now I have not seen that 105 page affidavit (of Rabusa) so there is nothing to deny,” he added.
Boac, however, denied Rabusa’s claim that more than P300 million worth of military funds has been plundered.
“Regarding his general statement that it is more than P300 million representing plunder, I strongly deny that,” he said.
Northern Luzon Command chief Lt. Gen. Gaudencio Pangilinan, who was also included in the amended complaint, declined to comment on Rabusa’s allegations.
Rabusa, who earlier claimed that top military officials were entitled to hefty cash gifts, tagged five more officials in the plunder raps he filed before the Justice department today.
The new respondents were Boac, Pangilinan, and state auditors Arturo Besana, Crisanto Gabriel and Manuel Warren.
Rabusa said Pangilinan may have been a “bagman” for the kickbacks allegedly received by the late Armed Forces chief Arturo Enrile while serving as the latter’s executive assistant. He said Pangilinan may have received more than P88 million.
Boac obtained more than P330 million when he was budget officer of the then deputy chief of staff for comptrollership, Rabusa said.
Rabusa, who has admitted benefiting from the misuse of funds, claimed that Besana, Gabriel and Warren were given bribe money worth P26 million, P58 million and P69 million, respectively.
A total of 17 officials were implicated in Rabusa’s original complaint which was filed last April.
They were former Armed Forces chiefs Diomedio Villanueva, Roy Cimatu and Efren Abu; former military comptrollers Lt. Gen. Jacinto Ligot and Maj. Gen. Carlos Garcia; Col. Cirilo Tomas Donato, Col. Roy Devesa, Maj. Emerson Angulo, retired Maj. Gen. Hilario Atendido, Brig. Gen. Benito de Leon, retired Lt. Col. Ernesto Paranis, Capt. Kenneth Paglinawan, Col. Gilbert Gapay, Col. Robert Arevalo, and Maj. Gen. Epineto Logico; and civilians former Intelligence Service of the Armed Forces of the Philippines resident auditor Divina Cabrera and accountant Generoso del Castillo. (With Rosemarie Gonzales/Philippine Star trainee)
- By Alexis Romero
