Having earned their trust, our military officer managed to convince the miners to hand over their gold to him for sale in Manila, pledging he could give them a better price than the P250 per gram they were being offered by local buyers. A total of 25 kilos was entrusted to him and, upon returning to Fort Bonifacio, the officer disposed of the gold at P260 per gram or P6.5 million.

Sadly, however, he pocketed the money and used it to partially finance the purchase of a palatial house in Marikina City instead of giving it to the rightful owners. As the saying goes, "Easy come, easy go." Thus, the house that was fruit of the illicit act was repossessed by the bank when our rogue officer could not meet the monthly amortization since he was already in hiding by then. This guy finally took advantage of the amnesty to rebels offered by the Ramos administration. When he surfaced, he went into the computer business with an expatriate for a partner. He promptly pulled a swindle on his partner and when the poor man tried to go after him, the rogue officer worked to have his victim deported.

Later on, a classmate interceded in his behalf with the Arroyo administration and he got an appointment as a department under-secretary. The bliss did not last long since could not explain what happened to P50 million entrusted to him by powers that be during the 2004 election. Apparently, he was assigned in Mindanao then to help out with the campaign’s dirty tricks department.

His fortunes were resuscitated after a year when his classmate again helped him to get appointed as a vice-president in a big government-owned corporation. And it should not come as a surprise to know that the public corporation was the victim of a robbery. The incident was never reported in media but, according to the investigator, it was an inside job with our rogue officer being the prime suspect. Of course, he is still employed by the company and everyone who knows this guy is starting to ask when he will get his comeuppance.

Recently, a general who served in the defunct Philippine Constabulary (PC) succumbed to cancer. He retired as lieutenant general. His last position was AFP deputy chief of staff since at that time the PC was still one of its service branches. When the PNP was created as a separate entity, this officer opted to transfer instead to the Army. That was because most of his career was spent with various intelligence agencies. He served the longest in the Intelligence Service of the AFP or ISAFP and he lacked the necessary police experience. But he could never get past the AFP’s 3rd highest position since he never had any line commands, not even a squad. His luck, however, was far from out since he was a province mate of Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo who gave him a juicy position that allowed him to rake in millions. But all these millions went for nothing. They could not save him from his cancer and, upon his death, he was set to be buried at the Libingan ng mga Bayani. On the night before his interment, however, somebody placed a placard at the cemetery gate proclaiming "Hindi ito ang libingan ng mga magnanakaw!" Only the kindheartedness of an officer who removed the sign saved our corrupt general from his final act of humiliation.

Compared to the illicit riches made by these two officers, I have nothing. After 30 years in the military service, I own neither a house nor a car. Not even a humble bicycle. But I have the consolation that my children and grandchildren have all had a good education and that when I pass on, they will inherit a good name.