MANILA, Philippines — The Department of National Defense (DND) is feeling the pressure to take immediate action on the reported diversion of funds to create a slush fund for military brass.
A special DND fact-finding panel formed last week will hold a public hearing on Friday about the workings of the once powerful military comptroller’s office before it was disbanded in 2005.
“It really affects the whole institution,” DND spokesperson Eduardo Batac told reporters, referring to the purported slush fund.
“Among government agencies, the DND and the [AFP] have imposed upon themselves the most stringent measures on integrity. That’s why this is very important to us. It has to be resolved. The truth should come out,” he said.
Batac said Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin had vowed that “if there are offenses uncovered, all these offenses are going to be pursued relentlessly, and nobody is going to be spared. Let the ax fall where it will fall.
“What's important is to get to the bottom of this and ferret out the individuals who committed these abuses and offenses,” Batac said.
“It is very unfair to come up with general accusations involving people who don’t even know about this. It’s very unfair. There are many people in the [AFP] and the [DND] who are now trying to tread the narrow and straight path. That is why we want to get to the bottom of this,” he said. (report from Philippine Daily Inquirer)
