[Straits Times] A 'STAGGERING' amount of Philippine military funds disappeared in recent years, a defence official said on Wednesday, promising new safeguards to prevent future corruption.Long entrenched in Philippine society, corruption is an especially explosive issue in the inadequately equipped and underfunded military and has sparked several rebellions by disgruntled troops in the past 25 years.
Department of National Defence front man Eduardo Batac would not say exactly how much money has gone missing, but said that an investigation's initial findings indicated massive corruption.
'Evidently, there were irregularities that were committed,' Mr Batac told a news conference.
'Even to us at the department and the Armed Forces of the Philippines, the amounts involved are staggering.'
In the latest corruption scandal to rock the 126,000-strong military, former military budget officer Lt Col George Rabusa testified before the Senate in January that three former military chiefs of staff pocketed millions of dollars in funds intended for combat, intelligence, troop salaries and a military hospital.