Osmeña, a former Cebu City mayor, said corruption in the AFP was already institutionalized and reforms should start from the inquiries so that it can be stopped.

Osmeña believes Reyes was only a victim of the tradition since corruption is “just like a normal activity” in the AFP.

Reyes shot himself Tuesday last week after being accused of receiving P5 million monthly as chief of the AFP and P50 million upon his retirement in 2001.

His accuser was a former subordinate and former military budget officer, retired Lt. Col. George Rabusa, who earlier admitted he was the bagman for senior military generals and civilian officials who got payoffs from the AFP.

Osmeña said the former chief of staff and defense secretary was only a minor element of the entire corrupted system.

“I know that, I’m the vice chairman of the committee on appropriations in Congress, but I didn’t sign the AFP budget because there was a lot of hogwash,” Osmena said.

However, the proposed P104-billion budget for the Department of National Defense was still approved without Osmena’s signature.

Osmeña believes there are a lot of personalities involved in the system and they should be brought to the bar of justice.

Osmena said investigation must continue to uncover the truth so that reforms will also be introduced in the AFP.

“What is important is that they should start the reform because, as I see it, corruption in the AFP has been institutionalized, really worse,” Osmeña said.

To get rid of corruption, Osmeña suggested some reforms, citing for instance that the creation of the AFP’s budget should be a year-long process.

He said it should be structured item by item, and not in lump sums so that the government won’t end up buying overpriced products.

But the most important thing to start a reform, the congressman said, is to change top AFP officials and send some of them to jail.

He foresees several military officials will be facing criminal charges in the near future if congressional investigations continue.