In a statement issued today, Rep. Winston “Winnie” Castelo urged that the Department of Justice officially extend the Witness Protection Program to Lt. Col. George Rabusa, former AFP budget officer and Heidi Mendoza, former COA auditor, respectively so they can serve as effective state witnesses in the ongoing investigation of the AFP fund mess.
In a text message, the LP solon said, “Heidi Mendoza is a very credible witness. Her testimony is spontaneous and beaming with integrity. We should all be proud to still have people as courageous as her, motivated only by her desire to curb corruption consistent with her vow as civil servant even as this put her life and family at great risks”.
Proposing that Mendoza be placed under the Witness Protection Program owing to the inherent sensitivity of her expose, Castelo in fact, challenged other people in the know to come in the open to reveal the extent of corruption in any agency of government.
“Suffice to say that Colonel Rabusa and State Auditor Mendoza, while they occupy middle-executive positions in the military and civilian government, respectively truly deserve the praise of the entire Filipino people”, the administration lawmaker said.
“Heidi and Rabusa make the Filipino proud for their courageous testimonies risking their lives, families, career and giving up their comfort zones in the process”, Castelo said.
In an earlier call, the neophyte Castelo urged the top-to-bottom probe of this alleged AFP ‘rip off’.
“While the AFP is a monolithic organization, once infested with the culture of corruption already found right at the top of the hierarchy, it will naturally cascade down to the next lower echelon down the line. If at GHQ level, the Chief of Staff himself is corrupt, it may follow that the same variety could be found in the major branches like the Philippine Air Force, Navy, or Army down to the lower Commands that fall under their respective jurisdictions”, Castelo explained.
“Let all the chips fall in place, I pray. All these ‘send off (pabaon), start up (pasalubong), and tip (balato)’ and worse, these P1 to P5 million monthlies aside from discretionary ‘Provisions for Command-Directed Activity (PCDA)’ will naturally dry government coffers over time”, he said.
“Let the AFP be a test case to see how good we can push a moral campaign against corruption as that espoused by the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines across the whole bureaucracy. We already heard how $5 million in UN funds for the AFP cannot be accounted for. We should not let the corrupt officers or officials reduce AFP to be a ‘veritable treasure trove’ of available money through bribes, kickbacks, overpayments every time guns, aircrafts, army supplies, uniforms, or allied defense equipments will be procured”, the QC solon finally quipped. 30
