Procurement of Israeli drones defended by Cimatu
Retired generals Diomedio Villanueva and Roy Cimatu both defended the procurement of the UAV demo units from an Israeli firm in 2002 and said that the equipment were used for about 5 months. It was Villanueva, the military chief from March 2001-May 2002, who gave the go-signal for the transaction as alleged by former budget officer Lt.Col. George Rabusa in the Senate hearing on Feb.4, 2011.
Cimatu, who was deputy chief of staff when the UAV demo units were purchased, admitted however that the said equipment was defective. “Medyo maingay po ang makina, naririnig ng Abu Sayyaf sa ibaba. Ang endurance niya, hindi aabot ng 6 hours na continuous lipad,” he said.
He added that they told the supplier that the deficiencies should be corrected.
Cimatu was eventually appointed AFP chief of staff in September 2002, however, and said he was not able to track the changes made in the UAV demo units.
Villanueva, on the other hand, said that the units served their purpose. “Lumilipad po at nako-control. Ang failure hindi mo masasabi. Ang masasabi ko lang ay nagagamit for demo ang UAV,” he said.
Rabusa reiterated that the procurement was made without any bidding, but Senate president Sen. Juan Ponce Enrile said it was unlikely that there would have been one because the UAV demo units were listed as one of the transactions made using intelligence funds.
Commission on Audit chair Guillermo Carague confirmed this and said that intelligence funds are not audited. “What they [auditors] require is merely a certificate from the agency, they [intelligence funds] are not subject to audit because they are use for espionage.”
He then proposed to the senators to craft a policy that would make the use of intelligence funds more transparent. He recalled saying during budget hearings on the AFP that, “If you want us to edit these funds, don’t call it intelligence funds, call it something else.”
‘Unusual Process’
Both Cimatu and Villanueva also denied that they received “pabaon” worth P10 million monthly. Rabusa has accused Cimatu of pocketing P80 million in sendoff money, while he said that Villanueva received P164 million.
Cimatu, who now serves as an envoy to the Middle East, said that he did receive a “pabaon,” but these are the 40 medals he received in his 37 years in service. Cimatu’s executive assistant, Col. Benito De Leon, also defended his former boss, but testified that he did get P10 million on June 3, 2002 from Rabusa and gave it to Cimatu.
“I was a little bit uncomfortable [holding P10 m in cash]. In my case, it was unusual. But it was a matter of procedure,” he said. He also stressed that the money was later used for operations against the terrorist group Abu Sayyaf.
But De Leon said that there was no specified program in the financial plan of the Office of Chief of Staff that warranted an additional disbursement of P10 million.
The use of the P10 million was only included in the financial plan after he received it from Rabusa.
“So it was after the fact already?” Sen. Franklin Drilon said.
“I think that became a procedure,” De Leon conceded, prompting Drilon to say “this is the most unusual process I’ve heard.”
