We salute Heidi Mendoza

As long as there is a Heidi Mendoza, there is hope for the Filipino nation. Mendoza’s testimony about the pressures she had to deal with in uncovering the military corruption was so moving especially when she tearfully made a public appeal that her family be spared from harm. “Maawa kayo sa akin. Maawa kayo sa mga anak ko,” she pleaded, adding that in coming out she didn’t want to hurt anybody. A daughter of a policeman, Mendoza is the former state auditor who investigated the case of former Maj. Gen. Carlos Garcia, who served as military comptroller from 2001 to 2003. Mendoza said she took on the challenge of investigating the alleged corruption in the military “to give honor to the soldiers who risk their lives in defense of the country.” She said it was because of “sheer disgust over the corruption in government” that she is risking her safety and that of her family by testifying in the congressional investigation. She appealed to each and every one to do his share in stomping out corruption. Heidi related that from the very beginning ,when then Ombudsman Simeon Marcelo requested for her help in the investigation, acting chairman of the Commission on Audit Emmanuel Dalman gave her permission but with the advice, “Dahan-dahan lang.” When she asked for clarification, Dalman said: “Kasi tinawagan tayo ng Palasyo.” Mendoza recalled that Dalman’s words of caution came from the office of the Executive Secretary. Former Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita was at the hearing and he denied categorically that he gave the instruction for Mendoza to slow down in the investigation. Heidi said her investigation covered the pension funds, the United Nations fund for peacekeepers, Balikatan, and modernization funds. In 2005, she made a presentation to Assistant COA Commissioner Emma Espina who discouraged her from doing a report of what she had discovered. Later it was the COA chair himself, Guillermo Carague, who reportedly told her: “Don’t make the report anymore. Anyway, the Ombudsman (Marcelo) has resigned.” She was dismayed. She asked what was supposed to do with the 12 boxes of evidence she had gathered. Caraque then allegedly told her: “Simple. Return the documents to where you got it.” Since COA was not interested in her report, she made a Financial Investigation Report and submitted it to the Ombudsman. She said she never had a meeting with Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez, unlike during the time of Marcelo with whom she worked closely with. Some of the irregularities that she discovered: P50 million of the P200 million from the UN in a convoluted and irregular deposit process that could not have happened without the cooperation of bank officials. Three accounts were opened at the United Coconut Planters Bank, Alfaro branch where Ethel Bondoc was the manager. One account for P100 million, another for P50 million supposedly another fro P50 million. But the last P50 million had a passbook but not in the system. Later on, another P50 million account at the Tordesillas branch of UCPB surfaced which the AFP and UCPB said was the missing P50 million. But Mendoza said the source of that P50 million was not the P200 million. Discovered clearing accounts in Land Bank General Santos and Iloilo branches involving amounts as huge as $5 million. The wife of former comptroller Lt. Gen. (ret) Jacinto Ligot is from General Santos City while that of Garcia is from Iloilo. Rep. Roilo Golez said that practice is called “floating accounts” where money can be “parked” even for a day and earn millions of pesos in interest. Mendoza said that when she went to GenSan and Iloilo to look into the “clearing” account, she was told by bank officials they were non-existent. When Assistant Special Prosecutor Joseph Capistrano said that the UCPB and Bondoc issued a certification that the P50 million was not missing and it was found at the UCPB Tordesillas branch, Mendoza revealed a private mail from a member of the investigating team from the United States Department of Justice who said that Bondoc told them the UCPB did a “cover-up” of the missing P50 million. In the midst of all these, Ombudsman Gutierrez still insisted their evidence against Garcia was weak. It only shows that those who don’t want to look, will never see. Mendoza said her appearance at the House investigation was not to convict Garcia. Rather, she felt that she has no right to demand good governance from the government if she did not come out and tell the public what she knows on the matter. She said she wants to assure the public that not all in government are corrupt.