Former vicar affirms ‘military slush fund’

A FORMER head of the Catholic Church’s military ordinariate or diocese has echoed allegations of the so-called “pabaon” or practice of giving millions of pesos as going-away presents to retiring chiefs of the Armed Forces of the Philippines.

Archbishop Ramon Arguelles of Lipa, who headed the military ordinariate from 1995 to 2005, urged the government to put a stop to the practice, which he claimed had been “going on all the time.”

“Rightly or wrongly, I think they do that to all AFP chiefs of staff. That’s true also for the lower levels at low rates,” Archbishop Arguelles said.

“It’s bad but it’s going on all the time. It must be stopped because it’s part of the corruption in the military,” he added.

On Thursday, retired Lieutenant Colonel George Rabusa, a former military budget officer, told the Senate that former AFP chief Angelo Reyes received P50 million in send-off money when he retired. Reyes denied the accusation.

Report from Inquirer.Net