Lt. General Eduardo Oban replaces General Ricardo David who
will retire on Monday.
Oban takes on his role after lawmakers uncovered large-scale
corruption in the armed forces involving some retired generals who were found
to have acquired properties in the United States and siphoned off military
funds earmarked for soldiers’ training and salaries to their personal bank
accounts.
The scandals have affected the morale of soldiers fighting
two long-running insurgencies that have killed 160,000 people, displaced 2
million and stunted growth in this poor but resource-rich Southeast Asian
nation.
Addressing graduates of the Philippine Military Academy at
the northern mountain resort city of Baguio, Aquino also promised to punish
corrupt generals and push more resources to soldiers fighting Maoist and Muslim
rebels.
“There will be no sacred cows,” Aquino told 196 new ensigns
and lieutenants joining the 130,000-member armed forces, saying his government
will not tolerate corruption and judiciously use military funds to buy new
boots and guns for frontline soldiers.
“We will correct the past mistakes and straighten the
crooked policies. We will hold accountable all the thieves and all their
accomplices.”
Oban, who graduated from the same academy in 1979, is widely
respected among younger officers. He played a key role in ending an army mutiny
in 2003 when 300 junior officers took over a high-rise apartment in Manila’s
business district.
Oban has promised to reform the military’s personnel, logistics
and financial system to stop corruption and focus on upgrading the army and
navy’s capabilities.