Retired Lt. Colonel George Rabusa got scant attention when he sat down to testify before the Senate Blue Ribbon committee looking into the controversial plea bargaining agreement with Gen. Carlos Garcia. When he was through, Rabusa received more than just second looks. With clinical precision, Rabusa detonated his charges. The first explosion came with his revelation that former Armed Forces Chief of Staff Angelo Reyes received P50 million as “pabaon” (send off) gift when he retired. Rabusa is not through yet, for as of this writing, he has hinted of more revelations that would implicate not only former military and government heavyweights but no less than former Pres. Gloria Macapagal Arroyo. It is too early to say if Rabusa is telling the truth. It is too premature to predict that something solid will come out of it. In a country where exposes are a dime a dozen, Rabusa's revelation might just end up like the others – nowhere. And yet, there is something that people find hard to suppress, the creeping sense of desperation. Nobody doubted that corruption in the military was happening long before “idealistic” young officers started spilling the beans.
Still, like the expected death of a loved one long emaciated by illness, it was painful just the same. What has been suspected all along is true after all. If the military top-brass routinely fell in line to receive their share when their turn came, where is this country headed for? Whatever happened to principles and ideals that products of the country's top military academy supposedly embraced? Indeed, there is something about this revelation that strikes at the core. Nearly four decades ago, former Vice Pres. Emmanuel Pelaez asked future Pres. Fidel Ramos a seemingly common question: “what is happening to our country?” Pelaez could have asked that today and he will still be relevant.
Rabusa vainly tried to cushion the impact of his bombshell by saying that the gift-giving was already a tradition when he came in. The whistle-blower said it as though tradition could mitigate the gravity of the offense. Tradition should never be a justification for wrongdoing. If wrong is wrong no matter how many are doing it, wrong should also be wrong no matter how long people are doing it. There comes a point when people should summon the courage to say “enough”. It is the tipping point when the dam breaks under the weight of the years of abuse and excess. Sing no dirges when the end finally comes. It is time to break a tradition.
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