THE Office of the Ombudsman disclosed on Wednesday the conviction of a former high ranking Armed Forces of the Philippines official for misuse of over P24 million in soldiers’ contributions to the AFP Retirement and Separation Benefits System 25 years ago.
The Sandiganbayan convicted former AFP-RSBS president (ret.) general Jose Ramiscal Jr. of two counts of violation of Section 3(i) of the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act or Republic Act No. 3019.
He was sentenced to suffer a jail term of six to 10 years for each count, with perpetual disqualification from holding public office.
In 1992, the AFP-RSBS and DM Wenceslao and Associates Inc. entered into a joint venture to establish the Bay Resources Development Corp. for the purpose of acquiring and developing a 10-hectare property in the Manila-Cavite coastal road and reclamation project.
During the Dec. 29, 1995 trial, the Ombudsman prosecutors testified that the corporation sold and transferred the property to AFP-RSBS with the pension fund footing the payment of taxes.
On the other hand, Ramiscal approved the payment and release of P24,198,070 to the corporation without any board approval. The cash advances between the AFP-RSBS and BRADCO were earlier placed under scrutiny in a Senate investigation on the utilization of the pension funds.
“As the vendor, it is clearly BradCo’s sole responsibility to pay all the taxes, including the documentary stamp taxes due on the properties sold to the AFP-RSBS. Thus, it is highly anomalous for the AFP-RSBS to advance the payments thereof,” the decision read.
“These general vouchers which granted the advance payments for the said taxes were signed and approved on the same date as the execution of the Deed of Conveyance on 29 December 1995. As such, his awareness of these irregularities should have placed [Ramiscal] on guard in reviewing the approval of said vouchers before he affixed his signature.”