[2] The Philippine Department of Justice named the following in its recommendation to the Office of the Ombudsman: AFP chiefs Roy Cimatu and Diomedio Villanueva; retired military comptrollers Garcia and Jacinto Ligot; retired major general Hilario Atendido; former brigadier general Benito de Leon; retired lieutenant colonel Ernesto Paranis; active-duty officers Cirilo Tomas Donato and Roy de Vesa; former civilian auditor of Divina Cabrera; and former accountant Generoso del Castillo.
[2][5] The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) was embroiled in a corruption scandal in early 2011 after its former budget officer George Rabusa testified in a Senate Blue Ribbon Committee of the pabaon (send-off money) system.
The way the money was diverted was uncovered by Commission on Audit auditor Heidi Mendoza when she testified on a House of Representatives Committee on Justice.
[6] On January 30, Rabusa further said that former AFP chiefs of staff Diomedio Villanueva and Roy Cimatu were also given send-off money.
Rabusa had been given by his comptrollers, Jacinto Ligot then Carlos Garcia, discretion on how to utilize the provisions for command-directed activities (PCDA), and these were given as send-off money to the generals.
Gen. Benito de Leon, admitting receiving millions of pesos from Rabusa, but insisted that the transaction was legal.
"[13] On a hearing of the House of Representatives Committee on Justice on late January 2011, former Commission on Audit (COA) auditor Heidi Mendoza testified that she uncovered irregularities in funds by the military.
[15] In August 2023, DOJ Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla approved the release of Garcia from the New Bilibid Prison after serving 12 years in jail from June 2005.
[16] In August 2024, Garcia filed a motion for executive clemency, aimed at a Presidential pardon to nullify his P407.8 million unpaid fine.
The Bureau of Corrections' Board of Pardons and Parole is studying the plea vis-à-vis the Ombudsman prosecutors' opposition, anchored on the Sandiganbayan’s resolution of July 30.