Gen. Garcia must spill the beans

By Vic G. del Pilar

The smell seems  so terrible now, that no can anymore bear.  

Umaalingasaw na ang amoy, at tila hindi na kayang singotin pa. Ang panahon ay ngayon na. And it is time for  Gen. Garcia  to start spilling the beans, that is if he wants to save himself from greatest AFP blunder of all times.

The government is just glad to start opening  the can of worms that retired Major General Carlos Garcia had, in all his life been keeping inside his closet. And opening it, would surely spell who among the many astute and wise AFP generals are  involved  in the massive stealing of government funds during their hey days at the helm.  The public could now be happy to know them by names. This scenario would now disprove the issue that the AFP is the most honest agency of government, speaking about the massive graft and corruption issues happening in this government.

With Gen. Garcia's involvement in these crimes of all times, at least there is no more agency in the government today that could safely say that they are no kawatans of government funds. Under our system of government, whoever must be in that position must admit that he is not exempted from public suspicion that he is a thief, a hold upper, a rapist, a plunderer, name it and that's it. It might be for this reason that people, by using all other means of foul plays join politics, in the hope that once he is there with power can enrich himself by squandering people's money, under the guise of public service.

This is what happened to Gen. Garcia. How can one  expect an AFP employee amassed PHP303 million pesos while in office with a salary only of say PHP35,000 monthly? A wife and sons jet setting abroad, many times over, carrying cash money in their luggage in hundreds  of thousand dollar denomination? And to claim that that money was hard earned?  My friends, tell that to the Marines!

I agree with Senator Santiago saying, Gen. Garcia could only be a fall guy. Meaning, Gen. Garcia being the AFP comptroller and as custodian of funds, may have been tolerated by some of his superior officers to go on with the business under the arrangement that hati-hati tayo pag dating ng araw. And these things happened during which Gen. Angelo Reyes was the DND chief.

With Paranaque congressman Roilo Golez' efforts of investigating the case further, we feel the government is using its effective dragnet in order to haul the biggest fish, crocodiles and sharks behind these massive stealing of government funds and torch them to die in the gallows. It can be remembered that Gen. Garcia who became the star of the show have pleaded guilty to a lesser offense, thereby granting his right to bail under a plea bargain arrangement. But his plea bargain between state prosecutors handling Gen. Carcia's case and the Ombudsman is now being questioned some other sectors of the society.

With this development going on, there is a fair chance that  more high ranking military officers in the past, even if they have gone on full retirement, and  assuming  are now living abroad enjoying their loot will be summoned to shed light on the issue and get their individual share of the handcuffs.