The Armed Forces of the Philippines yesterday said it demoted a two-star general to colonel after learning he falsified his date of birth to avoid mandatory retirement.
The appointments of Ralph Flores to brigadier general and major general of the Philippine Air Force were revoked after it was confirmed that he knocked three years off his age to avoid mandatory retirement on March 30, 2002 at the age of 56.
Flores claimed he was born on March 30, 1949 instead of his true birth date of March 30, 1946, a military statement said.
Flores was demoted to his previous rank of colonel and stripped of the positions he attained after cheating his way out of mandatory retirement in 2002.
Prior to the demotion, Flores was the chief of the PAF Air Logistics and Support Command.
The officer will now be considered retired as of 2002 and will be removed from active service. He will also be forced to return all compensation, allowances and benefits he received after his mandatory retirement, the military said.
All awards he received from that period will also be withdrawn.
President Arroyo approved the stripping of Flores’ rank after the Department of Defense (DND) and the AFP recommended that such action be taken.
The President also endorsed the AFP’s recommendation that Flores be required to reimburse all salaries and remuneration of over P1 million, which he received beyond his true retirement date of March 30, 2002. The recommendation was put forward by a military body tasked with investigating the Flores case.
Flores and Maj. General Carlos Garcia and controversial PAF Brig. Gen. Prospero Ocampo all belong to Philippine Military Academy Class ’71.
Flores’ appointments to the ranks of brigadier general and major general effective July 18, 2002 and April 15, 2005, respectively, were revoked and declared null and void by reason of age, AFP spokesman Lt. Col. Buenaventura Pascual said.
According to Pascual, Flores’ rank will be demoted to full colonel and he will be deemed to have been separated from the AFP by operation of law effective March 30, 2002.
AFP chief Gen. Efren Abu ordered the military Judge Advocate General to file the appropriate charges against Flores before the Office of the Ombudsman.
"As far as I remember, this is the first time that this kind of rank revocation happened, especially from major general to colonel," Pascual said.
The STAR attempted to contact Flores for comment on the matter but was unable to reach him.
PAF spokesman Lt. Col. Restituto Padilla said the PAF had not heard from Flores since he applied for optional retirement last year.
"We know nothing about and have heard nothing from (Flores) since he applied for optional retirement last year," Padilla said.
It was learned that Flores opted to retire in May last year after reports on Garcia’s alleged ill-gotten wealth hit the headlines.
Flores’ application for optional retirement has yet to be acted upon by the PAF pending the resolution of his case.
At the height of the investigation into Garcia’s unexplained wealth last year, then AFP chief Gen. Narciso Abaya received a letter of complaint that Flores had declared the wrong birthday.
Pascual said the AFP personnel department apparently overlooked Flores’ true birth date records and Flores "apparently tried to conceal his true birthday by filing false birth records in his filed annual statement of assets and liabilities."
Abaya ordered the creation of a fact-finding body to look into the complaint. The probe body was led by 6th Infantry Division commander Maj. Gen. Raul Relano.
Over the course of the investigation, Relano’s team established that Flores had indeed been born in 1946, based on a baptismal certificate and records from the PMA.
The investigating body also found, upon examination, that it would be impossible for Flores to just be several weeks older than his younger brother, who was born in 1949, as was stated in his records.
The committee transmitted its findings to the AFP Inspector General for formal investigation and appropriate action.
Despite the new scandal brought upon the armed forces by the Flores case, Pascual assured the public that the AFP is intent on pursuing reforms in the military.
The President, Pascual said, has given Abu specific instructions to enforce stringent measures that will prevent the recurrence of similar scandals in the future.
The retirement of officers is a major issue in the Philippine military. junior officers complain they cannot get promoted because there are too many senior officers.
The Philippines has been cracking down on corruption in the armed forces in recent years. The plunder charges filed against Garcia represent the first such case involving a high-ranking army official in recent years. — With AFP