Arroyo vows to crack down on corruption in the military
Arroyo vows to crack down on corruption in the military
Associated Press, Manila
President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo pledged Tuesday to crack down on military corruption -- an endemic problem cited by renegade soldiers who staged a dramatic mutiny two weeks ago.
Arroyo said checks would be made on the lifestyles of generals, compared with the purchasing power of their paychecks. And she promised state protection for middle-ranking officers who tell prosecutors about scams by their superiors.
She announced the appointment of a Defense Department task force to investigate the problem and another to study how to eliminate graft from military purchases and fund disbursements.
"There will be no whitewash or looking the other way," Arroyo said in a speech before students of a state-run national defense college.
"If there is evidence, there will be prosecution. If guilt is proven, people will go to jail, whatever the rank or command," she said.
More than 300 soldiers, led by junior officers, took over a ritzy apartment building and mall complex in Manila's financial district last month. They said their 19-hour siege was meant to highlight government inaction over military corruption, incompetence and the travails of poorly equipped combat soldiers.
They also demanded the resignation of Arroyo and her top security officials, who they accused of covertly plotting bomb attacks that were blamed on Muslim guerrillas in the country's volatile south to justify the imposition of martial rule.
Arroyo strongly denied the accusations but pledged to look into the soldiers' gripes over corruption. Government investigators said the mutiny was part of a larger plot by some opposition politicians and followers to grab power.
The soldiers backed down in talks with government negotiators. They were charged with attempting a coup.
Also charged is an opposition senator as well as the mistress and an aide of former president Joseph Estrada, who was ousted in 2001 and is now in jail facing trial for corruption.
Arroyo's tough stance on military corruption came a day after a marine captain disclosed that he was ordered by his superiors in December 1997 to escort two truckloads of assorted military ammunition to a former Muslim guerrilla on southern Jolo island.
The marine officer said he reported the apparently illegal sale but nothing came of it.
The underfunded Philippine military, which is battling Marxist and Muslim insurgents, has also struggled against a serious shortage of modern weapons, equipment and training that has made it one of Asia's weakest.
Also on Tuesday, a top security official told investigators that renegade soldiers would have temporarily reinstalled disgraced former president Estrada, if their uprising last month hadn't failed,
National Security Adviser Roilo Golez told an independent fact-finding commission that the mutineers had planned to spring Estrada from the custody of a military hospital. Three days later, opposition Sen. Gregorio "Gringo" Honasan, was to take over from him.
He said Arroyo might have been assassinated in the putsch.