Rabusa: P164 M withdrawn for ex-AFP chief Villanueva

MANILA, Philippines - Angelo Reyes was not ganid or greedy; he shared.

This is the latest allegation of retired Lt. Col. George Rabusa, who claimed Reyes gave him $20,000 out of about $1 million given as pabaon or sendoff when Reyes retired as Armed Forces chief.

Rabusa, the former military budget officer who spilled the beans on a “tradition” in the Armed Forces of gifting its chiefs with huge sums of money, also said he withdrew P164 million from a private bank supposedly for former chief of staff Diomedio Villanueva.

Rabusa told The STAR yesterday he withdrew the amount in tranches from a Security Bank branch upon instructions from then military comptroller Maj. Gen. Carlos Garcia.

Rabusa said Garcia instructed him to withdraw the money in batches – P10 million at each time – to avoid detection by the Anti-Money Laundering Council.

“He (Garcia) told me it was General Villanueva,” Rabusa said.

He said that when he approached Villanueva last year to remind him of the amount and seek financial help, the general appeared dumbfounded.

Rabusa said he believed Garcia kept the money.

He also said then defense secretary Angelo Reyes got 100 bundles containing $100,000 each for his P50 million pabaon (sendoff money).

Rabusa said he met with Reyes at his official quarters called the “White House” at Camp Aguinaldo in Quezon City just after Reyes’ retirement in March 2001.

He admitted that Reyes even handed him and then comptroller Gen. Jacinto Ligot two envelopes each containing what he described as balato (goodwill money) for delivering the P50 million converted into $100 bills. He said they placed the money inside a Rustan’s plastic bag.

“General Ligot also got his envelope, but it was thicker than mine. My estimate was that it was about $50,000 to $100,000,” Rabusa said.

Rabusa earlier revealed to Senate President Pro-Tempore Jinggoy Estrada that Reyes had talked about his future after his retirement as AFP chief. “It was then the two (Rabusa and Ligot) answered that he would be the next defense chief, which eventually happened,” Estrada said.

New witness

Meanwhile, Estrada said he would ask the Blue Ribbon committee to invite in the next hearing a former military officer assigned as assistant to Rabusa.

“He can corroborate Rabusa’s statements since he was his assistant at the budget division,” Estrada said.

Rabusa confirmed that one Col. Antonio Ramon Lim was his former assistant at the budget division. 

“I hope he comes out and corroborates me,” Rabusa said. “He was my workhorse because I had so many things to do then.”

Rabusa admitted that he burned huge volumes of documents shortly after Reyes’ retirement because they wanted to cover Reyes’ back when he was then eyeing the position of defense secretary.

“I recommended to Gen. Garcia and Gen. Ligot na sunusugin (documents), because we have to protect his back since he was going to be the Secretary of National Defense,” Rabusa said.

“It’s good I was able to keep some other documents, which are enough to prove my allegations (against Reyes, and the others),” said Rabusa. He declined to comment further.

Jetsetting wives

Rabusa also said the wives of Reyes and Ligot traveled in style, using their own pabaon from the military of not less than P20,000 for local trips and $10,000 for trips abroad.

Rabusa said he was assigned by Ligot to make sure that all the needs of Reyes’ wife, Teresita, were taken care of.

Estrada said he had a list of the two wives’ travels together since 1996 until the time when Reyes became Armed Forces chief.

“Everytime they travel, Rabusa gives them allowances. I think Col. Rabusa will expose this during the next hearing. I do not want to preempt his exposé,” Estrada said.

Estrada said Rabusa’s statements would be corroborated by immigration records, which he would present on Thursday’s hearing at the Senate.

It was Estrada who brought Rabusa as a witness during last Thursday’s hearing of the Blue Ribbon committee on the circumstances behind the plea bargaining agreement between Garcia and the special prosecutors.

Interviewed at ANC, Rabusa said they only gave Mrs. Reyes allowances everytime she traveled.

“We don’t give her regularly or monthly,” he said.

Rabusa said he usually gave the allowances personally to Mrs. Reyes or through a trusted aide.

He said Mrs. Reyes would call to ask him not to tell her husband that she had been given large amount as this would anger him. He said he would assure her that her husband would be told that she had only received P20,000 for local trip and no more than $2,000 for foreign travel.

Rabusa said Reyes’s children also benefited from military funds for “nights out” that he himself arranged.

“There were some activities pero wag na natin pag-usapan yan kasi (but let’s not talk about it) it’s too personal. Yung mga special ops, mga kalokohan. Yung mga boys’ night out, ako nag-a-arrange. Kasama din ako. At that time, it was P8,000 per person,” he said.

Meanwhile, reports revealed that one Ebbie Pelayo – said to be a supplier getting P1-million monthly payola from the military’s funds – was also engaged in providing “women” to some of the top AFP generals.

Meanwhile, Malacañang said yesterday Presidential Middle East Preparedness Committee special envoy Roy Cimatu was off to Egypt to look after the welfare of the Filipinos there.

Deputy presidential spokesperson Abigail Valte said Cimatu was part of the three-man team that the Department of Foreign Affairs put together to ensure the safety of Filipinos in Egypt.

“He (Cimatu) will be the best person to answer that and we will let him answer those allegations,” Valte said.

President Aquino had extended the term of Cimatu until June of this year.

Valte said government’s investigations into the allegations of Rabusa would continue and that the Palace would not stop any lifestyle checks on military officials.

“Well, it will not hurt certainly because it helps eliminate people who may have been, who are subject to these allegations,” Valte said.