ZAMBOANGA CITY—The Army commander, Lt. Gen. Alexander Yano, said the investigation for alleged corruption of a senior military official will be completed in a few days.

Without giving any specific date, Yano said on Wednesday the investigation is about to wind up and assured that there will be no cover up.

“If it were proven that the allegations of anomalies are substantiated, then he and other officers involved have to face the music,” Yano told reporters.

Under investigation for alleged corruption is Maj. Gen. Jose Barbieto, commander of the Army’s 4th Infantry Division.

Barbieto, a graduate of Philippine Military Academy Class 1974, went on leave two weeks ago following allegations that he and other military personnel extorted money from new recruits or those seeking reinstatement.

Barbieto is also accused of mismanaging funds for the government-armed militias helping government troops battle the rebel forces in the 4th Infantry Division’s area of operation.

The 4th Infantry Division deputy commander, Brig. Gen. Roland Rodriquez, was named the officer in charge of the Cagayan de Oro-based division.

Yano said the investigation is being handled by Maj. Gen. Samuel Narcise, the Army inspector general.

Barbieto will be given the opportunity to clear his name in the course of the investigation, Yano added.

He said the investigation was conducted to show that reforms in the military, especially in the Army, are ongoing.

“We have to walk the talk so to speak, and we assure you that we will continue to do so regardless of rank and position,” he added.

Yano vowed to “correct whatever malpractices in the military, specifically the Army, that I observe.”

A complaint from any individual and confirmed by intelligence verification will trigger an investigation, Yano said. 

Barbieto is the second ranking military officer to be subjected to investigation over allegations of corruption in recent years.

Former Maj. Gen. Carlos Garcia was found guilty in December 2005 of massive corruption and siphoning off millions of dollars while handling the military’s budget as the Armed Forces comptroller.

Garcia was sentenced to two years at hard labor and dishonorably discharged.

He is separately being tried for plunder by Sandiganbayan for allegedly illegally amassing P303 million while in the military service.

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SENATE investigators are tapping Hong Kong’s Independent Commission Against Corruption (Icac) to follow the money trail of the alleged $41-million kickbacks advanced in three tranches by China’s Zhong Xing Telecommunications Equipment Co. Ltd. to Arroyo administration officials and cronies for the aborted $329- million national broadband network (NBN) deal.

THE conflicting statements of President Arroyo and her aides on the botched national broadband project only served to reinforce the suspicions that contract was tainted with fraud which they are trying to cover up, Senate Minority Leader Aquilino Pimentel Jr. said on Thursday.

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MRS. EDITHA BURGOS on Thursday presented before the Court of Appeals (CA), which is hearing her petition for writ of amparo, a confidential report of the Philippine Army (PA) showing that her son Jonas, a suspected member of the communist New People’s Army (NPA), “has been neutralized.”

ZAMBOANGA CITY—Armed Forces Western Mindanao Command (Wesmincom) investigators have absolved the soldiers accused of killing eight people in a coastal village of Sulu on February 4, a military official disclosed.

ZAMBOANGA CITY—The Army commander, Lt. Gen. Alexander Yano, said the investigation for alleged corruption of a senior military official will be completed in a few days.