President Rodrigo Roa Duterte fired high-ranking military officials after he was informed about the alleged corruption activities at Armed Forces of the Philippines Medical Center also known as V. Luna Medical Center.
The President ordered to remove Brigadier General Edwin Torrelavega and Colonel Antonio Punzalan over the allegedly fraudulent purchases of equipment, ghost deliveries and splitting of contracts entered by the said officials. Aside from Torrelavega and Punzalan, more than 20 officials would be relieved over “institutional corruption.”
The President also ordered the officials to face court marshal immediately.
According to Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque, the amount allegedly corrupted by said military officials costs hundreds of millions of pesos.
Spox Roque also confirmed that the corruption activities were already happening in V. Luna for a very long time.
He said that the President was angered and aggravated after being informed that top military officials were only corrupting the funds of V. Luna which he visited last year.
“He [President Duterte] is ballistic because only recently he ordered a sum of P50 million released to V. Luna every month. only to find out that most of the funds are going into the pockets of corrupt officials.” Roque said.
One fraudulent purchase costs P1.4 million alone, according to the palace.
He said that the entire office that would have to do with the procurement would be relieved from their position.
Roque said that a whistleblower informed the Palace about the corrupt activities committed by the top military officials.
Last year, President Rodrigo Duterte, announced that he would allocate P50 million monthly for V. Luna hospital to save the lives of injured soldiers.
Meanwhile, AFP Chief of Staff Carlito Galvez Jr. said that he ordered immediate relieve of the said officials.
[SOURCE]
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