Retired Gen. Angelo Reyes, 65, was pronounced dead on arrival at a Manila hospital from a single gunshot wound in the chest after visiting the grave, Health Secretary Enrique Ona said in a news conference broadcast nationwide.

Reyes, who headed the military from 2001 to 2003, was at the center of a Congressional probe into one of the biggest corruption scandals to have hit the Philippine army.

Corruption, entrenched in the Philippine society, is an especially explosive issue in the inadequately equipped and poorly paid 120,000-strong military that has sparked several insurrections in the last two decades by disgruntled soldiers.

Witnesses interviewed by DZBB radio station at the cemetery said they saw Reyes send his children to his car before a single shot rang out.

Health Secretary Ona refused to immediately confirm that Reyes had committed suicide, saying he was awaiting autopsy results.

The powerful military expressed shock at Reyes’ death and urged Congress to expedite its probe into military corruption. President Benigno Aquino III, elected last year on the promise to prosecute corrupt officials, sent his condolences while his predecessor. Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, praised Reyes as a good soldier.

Corruption is an explosive issue in the Philippines’ inadequately equipped and poorly paid 120,000-strong military. It has sparked several insurrections in the last two decades by disgruntled soldiers.
 

In startling testimony that started last month, retired military budget officer Col. George Rabusa claimed that huge amounts had been diverted from key military units into a kitty for all kinds of illegal payoffs.

Among the recipients of the unaudited payoffs were past military chiefs of staff who each month collected millions of pesos (tens of thousands of dollars) for personal use plus huge “send-off” payments when they retired, he said.

Rabusa alleged that Reyes, who had attended the hearings, was among the recipients of the payoffs, which had to be converted into dollars because the peso equivalent was too bulky.

Aside from the ex-military chiefs and two comptrollers, he testified that their wives also used military payoffs to purchase US real estate and finance foreign trips, shopping sprees and parties. He said the money was illegally taken by cutting Congress-approved funds, including those for troop salaries, ammunition and a military hospital.

Also at the center of the investigation is Maj. Gen. Carlos Garcia, who was accused of amassing more than 300 million pesos, acquiring a luxury high-rise apartment in New York, after diverting army funds into his personal accounts when he was the military comptroller in the early 2000s.

Last December, Garcia was allowed to post bail after he entered into a plea bargain deal, admitting guilt to an indirect bribery charges and offering to return half of the questioned wealth.

On Monday, Senator Jinggoy Estrada, a son of former president Estrada, told the Senate inquiry that wives of some generals, including Reyes, had used diverted military funds for travel and to buy properties in the United States.

Rabusa said under oath he was among the officers who delivered money to Reyes — including more than $1 million when he stepped down. A stunned Reyes denied the accusations and later filed graft charges against Rabusa and a senator whom he accused of conspiring to malign him.
 

Emotions ran high when Reyes tried to confront Rabusa at the Jan. 27 hearing but was restrained by senators, including Antonio Trillanes IV, a former navy officer who was detained for more than seven years for alleged involvement in failed coups against former President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo. Reyes was among Arroyo’s most loyal backers.

“I’m just trying to protect my reputation here,” Reyes said. “I have served this government for 48 years,” he said during the Senate hearing in what would be his last public appearance.

“No, no, no, you don’t have any reputation to protect,” Trillanes responded. “I believe this is the time of reckoning. ... You better find very good lawyers.”

A House of Representatives committee resumed its investigation into military corruption Tuesday, with lawmakers and witnesses pausing briefly to pray for Reyes.

A lawmaker read a letter from Reyes, apologizing because he could not attend the nationally televised hearing. The letter was written early this week.

The government of President Benigno Aquino III, who was elected last year on the promise of prosecuting corrupt officials, supported the investigations into military graft.

The magnitude of the accusations against Reyes and two other retired Philippine military chiefs shocked many in this Southeast Asian nation, which has grappled with government corruption scandals for decades but produced few convictions.
 

“He was very depressed because he felt he was being made a scapegoat and the inquiry has become too personal,” Rex Robles, a retired commodore and a close friend of Reyes, told Reuters.

Reyes was among the country’s most prominent generals. He had led counterinsurgency battles and headed the defense, environment, energy, interior and local government affairs and other top posts under several presidents. He was known for his temper but revealed a lighter side too, as part of a three-member soprano group in which the macho general sang and danced in charity shows.

Reyes’ accuser Rabusa grieved over his death, saying they were close friends until the congressional investigation.

Rabusa also said he feared for his life.

“I’m really sad and I don’t know why he did that,” Rabusa told DZBB radio, his voice cracking. “I know his children, they treated me like a second father. ... We ate together. He served me meals.”

Sen. Gregorio Honasan, who had been accused of leading several failed coup attempts when he was an army officer, urged Congress to tone down its investigations to avoid driving those involved in public scandals from doing what Reyes did.

"In the pursuit of justice, we should also moderate the conduct of our inquiries, so we do not subject unnecessarily the persons involved to trial by publicity," he was quoted by GMA News Online saying.

Sen. Miriam Santiago said Reyes' death may have extinguished both his criminal and civil liabilities but his family has the obligation to return to the government whatever property that could be proven to have been illegally acquired by him.

Another lawmaker, Sen. Ramon Revilla Jr., pushed for a suspension of the Senate investigation out of respect for the family of Reyes.

But Sen. Francis Pangilinan said the investigation should be expedited instead to end corruption within the military.

"We should not let this incident deter our efforts in curbing pervasive corruption," he said in a press statement. "Reyes is a victim of a corrupt system. If his death should have any meaning, it should lead to real reforms in the armed forces in particular, and the entire government bureaucracy in general.

He lamented that Reyes took his own life instead of just revealing the truth.

"Death is not a graceful exit to such a distinguished officer as Secretary Reyes. A more honorable way would have been to come out with the truth and win back the admiration of his fellow soldiers," Pangilinan said.