Retired Brig. Gen. Rosalino Alquiza of PMA Class 1955 said at a news conference that once the conviction is approved by the President, the PMAAA board would act on his expulsion, regarded as a disgrace to “Cavaliers,” a prestigious brotherhood of officers.

On Dec. 2, 2005, Garcia, who was AFP comptroller from 2001 to 2004, was found guilty of violation of Articles of War 96 and 97 for not declaring his true assets and for enjoying permanent resident, or “green card” status, in the United States.

The member of PMA Class 1971 was dishonorably dismissed and sentenced to time served in detention, which was two years. His retirement benefits were forfeited.

Garcia was the highest ranking AFP official to be convicted by a military court.

Alquiza, an ex-officio PMAAA director, said the last expulsion several years ago involved an Air Force general convicted of falsifying his birth certificate.

Rex Piad, PMAAA vice president and retired police deputy director general, said expulsion proceedings against Garcia would begin once the decision of the court-martial was approved with finality by the Commander in Chief.

“Of course that will be the process,” said Piad, who chairs the PMAAA ethics and professionalism committee and a classmate, or “mistah,” of Garcia.

Garcia’s membership has been suspended, according to Alquiza.

“Even if his conviction by court-martial is not yet final, the board has decided to suspend his membership. When his conviction is final he will be expelled,” Alquiza said.

A check with the AFP Judge Advocate General confirmed that Garcia’s court-martial conviction “was not acted upon” by the Office of the President.

Conviction ignored

Alquiza said he did not know why then President Arroyo did not act on Garcia’s conviction.

What he is sure of, he said, was that the PMAAA was not informed of the Office of the President’s lack of action on the case.

Alquiza said according to the PMAAA’s by-laws, members who had been convicted with finality of “acts of moral turpitude” should be expelled.

He said Garcia’s admission to bribery and money laundering under the plea bargain was not yet considered a conviction with finality.

“If that is already final, General Garcia stands to be expelled,” he said.

The PMAAA chair, Muntinlupa Rep. Rodolfo Biazon of PMA Class 1961, also said members were considering expelling PMA alumni implicated in the corruption scandal.

“The board agreed that we should not preempt the ongoing judicial proceedings,” Biazon said.

Alumni support probe

In a manifesto issued on Monday, the PMAAA gave its support to the investigations being conducted by Congress and the defense and justice departments on the alleged misuse of hundreds of millions of military funds “with the end in view of sparing the innocent and punishing the guilty.”

“Such crucial accusations of graft and corruption is tantamount to breach of discipline and conduct unbecoming of an officer and a gentleman of concerned alumni and must be appropriately acted upon to maintain the high and noble traditions of the military service and of the association,” it said.

Also on Monday, retired Navy Commodore Rex Robles expressed concern that the Senate probe on the plunder case against Garcia was being diverted.

A member of the Feliciano Commission that investigated corruption in the military in the wake of the 2003 Oakwood mutiny, Robles said that payoffs to former AFP chiefs of staff were sidetracking the Senate inquiry into the case against Garcia.

Batting average

Speaking at the Kapihan sa Diamond Hotel, Robles revealed that the Feliciano Commission had found that the batting average of the Office of the Ombudsman in prosecuting plunder cases was at a low of 3 percent.

In one lawsuit investigated by the panel, Robles pointed out that “government prosecutors did everything possible to lose the case.” He said that often, prosecutors did not attend hearings or did not provide sufficient evidence against the accused.

This was, he stressed, what is needed to be addressed by the Senate in its hearings on Garcia, which he pointed out was being diverted through the implication of other people.

“My problem is, plunder or payola is a cancer. If you operate on a cancer, you use a scalpel. The Senate is using a bolo. If you keep on hacking at the patient, you just might kill him,” Robles said.

The Garcia issue is being diverted, he said, “because of some lawmakers’ desire for 15 minutes of fame.”

Donna Pazzibugan, Phil. Daily Inquirer