Corpus resigns as anti-illegal logging chief

The nation’s anti-logging czar is now logging off.

Retired general Victor Corpus has resigned as ex-officio chairman of the National Resources Development Corp. (NRDC) for personal reasons.

"I feel I am no longer effective in the position, I feel I also need to spend more time with my family," he said in an interview.

Corpus, who served as chief of the Intelligence Service of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (ISAFP), says he wants to go back to private life.

"Pagod na, eh (I’m tired). I think I need to slow down," he said.

Corpus was also appointed by President Arroyo as the country’s anti-illegal logging czar after the fatal landslides in Quezon in late 2004.

In a one-page resignation letter to the President dated April 27, Corpus said: "I wish to thank you for putting your full trust and confidence in me. It was my pleasure to have served under your administration... As you may have known, I have had a very turbulent past; away from my family most of the time. I believe that I have to make it up to them with the little time I have left."

Mrs. Arroyo accepted his resignation letter yesterday, he added.

Corpus resigned a day after Presidential Commission on Good Government chairwoman Haydee Yorac quit.

In 1969, Corpus, then a Philippine Constabulary lieutenant, defected to the New People’s Army and led a rebel unit in ransacking the armory of his alma mater, the Philippine Military Academy at Fort Del Pilar in Baguio City.

He returned to the fold of the government under the administration of President Corazon Aquino in 1986 and was subsequently allowed to resume his military career.

Corpus was named ISAFP chief shortly after President Arroyo was swept into power after the ouster of President Joseph Estrada in Jan. 19, 2001.

As ISAFP chief, Corpus was instrumental in thwarting several destabilization attempts against the Arroyo administration, including the May 1, 2001 siege of Malacañang by Estrada supporters and the July 2003 military mutiny at the Oakwood apartments in Makati.

Corpus retired from military service about two years ago.