Faye Dunaway

Faye Dunaway

"George Rabusa, How Do You Plead/Guilty or Not Guilty?"

Nix/Jsbraza

My informant can vividly remember that Thursday, January 27, 2011. He happened to be watching the Senate hearing on Gen. Garcia's case wherein Gen. Angelo Reyes was invited to shed light on his involvement. During that hearing, Sen. Jinggoy Estrada suddenly called in a surprise witness, Ret. Col. George Rabusa, who was known among the military circle as Gen. Reyes protégée. I am sorry, but having known him and his wife, Debbie Rabusa, for several years made me puke! What kind of a man is he to sell his master? The one who treated him when the Garcia-Rabusa scandal broke out in September 2004 and he was only put under ‘house arrest' while his co-accused, Major General Carlos Garcia, was jailed for almost 6 years? The one who treated him like his own son?

Shock and dismay were painted all over Gen. Angelo Reyes' face  Just two days before George went to his residence and made insinuations that somebody is going to "pin him down' in the Senate hearing. Even with his brilliance and unquestioned intelligence, Gen. Reyes had no clue that he was facing the descendant of Judas Escariot, the traitor!

George acted the part so well that day. Even his namesake, Hollywood actor George Clooney, will be put to shame. Splendid acting complete with theatrical props: "wheelchair, when he can still walk, albeit slowly; tears on cue, and the most sordid look. Indeed, this is the man we had come to know. A man who will go through great lengths to get what he was wanted!

From Pork Butchers to Instant Millionaires

In the early ‘90s when George was still a junior officer, he and his wife used to butcher some hogs at the back of their old quarters, and they would go around the neighborhood and friends to sell pork. Such entrepreneurial spirit was very common given the meager soldier's salary. The neighbors were obviously their loyal customers. Like anyone else, they were seen as normal couple then. Living a simple and Spartan life as all did inside the camp--devoid of arrogance.

Things started to change when George had sensitive positions such as budget officer of G2, PA with then Col. Urgello as his boss. More so, often when years later, Gen. Urgello became Commanding General, Phil. Army (CGPA) in 1998 and made George his ‘money bag' officer, the one who takes care of all financial needs of the CGPA. There was a sudden change in the Rabusa couple's lifestyle: brand new cars and SUVs were parked in their designated garage at PAOVILLE, Fort Bonifacio. Senior officers questioned their blatant display car with their meager salary; they got 3 top of the line SUVs! Neighbors' jaws kept dropping in amazement but more disbelief! Where did their fortune come from? Did they win the lottery? Further scrutiny yielded negative lotto winnings. (You cannot hide the excitement, can you? You will shout it out to the world!) They just happen to be smart couple who knows how to play the game and learn how to take advantage of the prevailing situation.

George & Debbie became     (A movie was made in 1967 starring Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway. Bonnie & Clyde is a term used to describe couples engaged in anomalous and criminal activities.) George and Debbie didn't really rob banks and kill people; they just used their bosses' names and influence to ask for favors and financial support from the J-staff in Camp Aguinaldo, more often, that the staff would be left wondering if the Army spent all their monies they have. "Yes, they pocketed most of their "loot". And that was the start of their good fortune!

Hello, Mrs. Tess Reyes!

It was during these times when they came to know Mrs. Tess Reyes, the wife of Gen. Angelo Reyes, a ‘mistah' of Gen. Urgello. Mrs Reyes actively participated in the Phil. Army Officer. Although very friendly and endearing, she chose to sit at the back of the van instead of sitting beside Mrs. Urgello, being a ‘mistah', because Debbie would always position herself next to Mrs. Urgello. Except those who genuinely knew who she was, nobody gave her any special attention accorded to a wife of a ‘rising star' until rumors started milling that her husband was going be named SouthCom chief, a springboard to becoming a Chief of Staff.

George took notice on Mrs. Reyes and did a background investigation. For that was what he was known for (he is an intelligence man, by the way, having been assigned in G2, PA & ISAFP). He came to know that Gen. Angelo Reyes had a ‘paramour' in Mindanao, and left Mrs. Reyes on her own to take care of her children in Manila. With her birthday

coming up, George, at Phil. Army's expense, held a lavish birthday party for her. Of course, he told Gen. & Mrs. Urgello about his plan. Mrs. Reyes was very grateful of this gesture; it was the start of their close associations.

From then on, he made himself available to Mrs. Tess Reyes requirements. With the logistics he was holding, he managed to support her financially. He made sure that she would be heavily indebted to him, enough weapons to ask for ‘juicy' positions later when her husband became CSAFP. Such is George's trademark ‘modus operandi'. For him, nothing happens by accident –he has to make things happen! Debbie, on the other hand, invited Mrs. Reyes to their exclusive ballroom dancers group wherein Mrs. Lyn Ligot is a member. This was the start of the so called "trial'. With Mrs.Tess Reyes, Mrs. Lyn Ligot, & Mrs Debbie Rabusa as exclusive members. The three became inseparable; they even call each other "sister"!

The Road To Chief Budget, J6, Camp Aguinaldo

As fate would have it, Gen. Angelo Reyes became Chief of Staff, almost at the same time when Gen Urgello was about to retire. George, with his influence, was offered a Battalion Commandership in South Cotabato was ahead of his contemporary. But it wasn't part of his plan as he said" "I already suffered a gunshot in my leg in Abra; I have no intentions of going to another war-torn area to prove my worth!" Instead, he went to see Mrs. Tess Reyes and asked for the position he had been eyeing for:   Chief Budget, J6 where the action and big bucks are! He been thinking aloud those times and told a lot of people that he cannot compete to the top position, chief of Staff, because he's one of the oldest in the class. ( He was even trying to convince some lawmakers to change the retirement age 60, instead of 56, so he fit the bill). He made it known that the next best thing for him to do was to gather as much money as he care and retire U.S. in style. This means that he would have businesses to take care of his twilight years! Therefore, everyting was pre-planned and premeditated!

Now, heavily indebted to George, Mrs. Tess Reyes kept bugging her husband to make George as chief budget. The military officers surrounding Gen. Reyes vehemently objected to such suggestion. Most of them of George's caliber, and they feared for the fate of the AFP's budget. One of these officers even saw the extent of how George would make his way to win the heart of Gen. Reyes by personally pushing the wheelchair of Gen. Reyes' mother, even when there were personal aides present. (Funny how a wheelchair was used again to elicit sympathy, this time, with the world as his audience!) As the saying goes: "never underestimate the power of a woman, especially, a bedmate". Tess Reyes succeeded in convincing his husband in placing George as chief budget, J6, AFP. And the rest was history…

Mrs. Tess Reyes & Company's Frequent Trips Abroad

True to his words, George was very supportive of Mrs. Tess Reyes financial requirements—actually he volunteered to endear himself. He also saw this as an opportunity to pocket to pocket some of the money, "legallyy'! He admitted in public that he gave Mrs. Reyes $ 10,000-$20,000 as pocket money. What he failed to admit was how much he reflected in the ‘book' in case his bosses would check. The public would never know that in every trip that he encouraged Mrs. Reyes & company to go, he pocketed at least a million or two of himself. Multiply that by the number of travels the group made ( at least 15 times during his time as Chief Budget) and you will get a amount close to 30 million! He also failed to mention the extent of involvement of his equally scheming wife from most of these trips.  She acted as the ‘moneybag' if George would not be around to do it for the madams. Debbie even bragged about those trips and shopping sprees.    Indeed, it was her distinct privilege to be the only wife of a junior officer brushing elbows with General's wives and shopping around the world with the First Lady of the AFP. She even related a story wherein Mrs. Reyes told George to buy her an expensive set of jewelry abroad, and not to be left behind, bought for her a more expensive one! And Debbie even flaunted them on several occasions. The three ladies: Tess, Lyn, and Debbie were often seen in swanky hotel lobbies having coffee, waiting for their dates, big-time AFP dealers, whom they personally asked their cuts from the multi-million contracts they got approved through the intimidation of George. Influence-peddling, they call it. Therefore, it was easy for them to go to the U.S. and shop for houses, like the one in Anaheim, California where they bought 3 houses, one for each of them, and proximate to each other.

Last Senate hearing on Feb. 7, 2011, when Sen, Jinggoy Estrada asked George if his wife accompanied mrs. Tess reyes & Mrs. Lyn Ligot on their trip abroad, he outrightly denied and said that Debbie has never been close to the 2 ladies because ‘she was just a wife of a junior officer'. Basically, he LIED under oath.

Banking on Filipinos very short memory, and being aware that he is now treated like a demi-god by audiences who are enthralled by his fabricated lies, may I refresh George and the public's memory, that in Dec. 15, 2004, George testified in the House of Representatives that the travels of his wife, Debbie Rabusa, were not official. Meaning, she has to shoulder her own expenses and pocket-money. But with no substantial income to back up her frequent trips abroad, George fabricated documents to show otherwise. Also, in the feb. 3, 2011 issue of Global balita, "travel records of the Bureau of immigrations revealed that Mrs. Erlinda ligot and Mrs. Debbioe rabusa were constant travel companion of Mrs. Tess Reyes… "That LYING bastard!"

There were several instances wherein George & Debbie use dMrs. Tess Reyes for their personal gains. In just a short period of time, they were able to build mul;ti-million houses for themselves and their relatives. Two of these multi-million houses (P10M each at the tiome of constraction excluding the Italian furniture & fixtures) are found side by side at AFPOVAL. One owned by George, and the next-door-neighbor belong      and the next-door neighbor belonged to his brother, a member of class '83 and assigned in the   Phil. Navy. Another for the parents of a certain Dave in Paranaque, a weekend place in Batangas, a P50-million house in one of the most exclusive subdivision in Q.C.--a gift from a dealer, and a multi-million peso mansion for George's girlfriend in Fairview. If you are going to tally them all, the amount is way more than what the law requires to file a plunder case against a government employee who was, by the time, had a gross earning of only P25 thousand pesos month! By now, you have the insight why George needed to save his ass!

$5M ‘Pabaon' For George's Family!

Before Garcia-Rabusa scandal broke out in September 2004, they knew before hand that it was bound to happen. Somehow, the incident of  Mrs. Clarita Garcia's written affidavits in the U.S. was leaked to media men, to buy them an airtime and hoping that it would die a natural death. Besides, they have to have the P1.5 million debut party of their eldest daughter at New World Hotel first, before Debbie and the kids would fly to the U.S. for good! They said, George was to follow suit but he still had "unfinished' business to take care of. The guests who attended the said debut party were wondering why instead of a happy atmosphere befitting a girl's coming out of the society, the whole family was crying! A few months later, in September 2004, the scandal that implicated George as a major player in looting the coffers of the AFP, bannered the headlines!

On the sidelight, there were wild talks that Debbie found out about George extra-marital affairs. He even had a multi-million house built in Fairview and bought franchises of Pancake House for her. Allegedly, Debbie, fed-up of his philandering ways, gave George  an ultimatum and made him choose between her & the children or the other woman. Honestly, they are just trying to make-up stories to misled people. A very reliable source told me, the couple have been ‘money laundering' precious green bucks going to the US in the tune of $ 5,000,000.00, to prepare for their pre-planned early retirement. They managed to put them through especially marked ‘balikbayan' boxes to avoid detection, using very close friends as recipients.

The said money was used to buy properties in cash. They first settled in Florida area, wherein she bought a house and a homecare business. Debbie and the children left for the US in May 2004, the scandal broke out. When the Filipino community in Florida knew the real score about Debbie Rabusa (Well, if you are buying properties in cash in America, you are inviting unnecessary attention! An average American owes the bank a huge amount to pay his house mortgage), Debbie sold their Florida property in haste. Some people close to them took advantage of the situation and would like to have their properties almost next to nothing! At this point, Debbie sought the help of a very good friend in LA to help her with the transactions in Florida. It was at this point when this ‘very good friend' learned about the amount money Debbie managed to bring to the U.S. $5 MILLION DOLLARS IN COLD CASH!!! (I wonder now if this is the same $ picked-up by a colonel at the UN headquarters in New York, that Heidi Mendoza said was missing? Hmmm…)

As per records, Debbie established a company called Art International, Inc., with an office located at 3115 Rancho Vista Ste D, Palmdale, CA 93551. As to the nature of the business, it is hard to establish what she was into and was far from her place of residence. As I've mentioned earlier, Debbie bought a property in Anaheim, CA, next to Mrs. Ligot  and Mrs. Tess Reyes, and God knows how many more, under the dummy owners. Remember, they have lots of ‘mistahs', George's classmates at PMA, who went out of the military service and settled mostly in West Coast, USA. He must have elicited favors from them given his penchant to go after people who owed him some favor in the past.

 

When the inquiries about ill-gotten wealth of the three became pronounced, Debbie sold her property in Anaheim and bought another one in neighboring place. Though the three of them still saw each other in the US, it was very elementary for Debbie to move to another location. Driving top of the line SUVs, Lexus & BMW, Debbie lived a lavish lifestyle in California. While her children were enrolled in private schools, ordinary American parents sent theirs to public schools. There were sightings of her and Mrs. Ligot in casinos, while George with his paramour frequented in casino hotels as high roller players here in the Philippines, when everybody thought he was under ‘house arrest.'

 

Suffering Consequences at His Household

 

My informant said that two years ago, he heard that Debbie allegedly succumbed to breast cancer and George had a stroke. Their eldest daughter had to pay $35,000.00 for fixed marriage and the second daughter was rumored to have a tumor. "Easy come, easy go," as the saying goes. Most, if not all of their loots, gone kaput! George started asking for financial support from the Chief of Staff down to the lowly civilian personnel, whom he knew had some money to spare, in Camp Aguinaldo. Most of the people Who Knew his true color didn't believe his "palabas". They said, he employed another tactic to solicit sympathy among peers, now that Gen. Garcia is out of jail and George knew that his name will be dragged again due to the extent of his involvement in looting the coffer of the AFP.

 

A Prolific Chess Player

 

My informant could still remember how Debbie used to describe her husband. "George is a very good chess player. Nobody can defeat him!" Debbie would say. She is mighty proud of the fact that her husband is brilliant!

 

Looking back, my informant took note and realized how George manipulated a lot of people to advance himself—Gen. Urgello, Gen. Reyes, Gen. Ligot and Gen. Garcia. Right now, he is also manipulating the minds of the brilliant senators and our judiciary systems with his blatant lies: the purported anomalous transactions in the AFP whom he and his assistant Lt. Colonel "Sonny" Lim, had masterfully designed & orchestrated. Yes indeed, George Rabusa is a chess master in his own right!

 

In closing, my informant expressed his sincerest apologies to the Reyes' family. To the late General Angelo Reyes, may his soul rest in peace!

 

 

 

 

About the Author

Samba-NCAA (National Commission for Culture & Arts) Quezon City, Summer of 1995

PPI-UNICEF (Philippine Press Institute- United Children's Fund)

5-Days Children's Newspapering Seminar & Convention September 2000

PAHRA (Philippine Alliance Human Rights Advocacy) 3-Days Rights Defenders Training, Iligan City April 2004

CHR (Commission on Human Rights) Seminar Workshop on Human Rights Based Approach to Local Legislation Iligan City, March 2008

CaFod UK Capacity Strengthening on Disaster Risk Reduction Training Misamis OrrientalJuly 30-August 6, 2009

MPC-EU (Mindanao Peoples Caucus-European Union) Seminar Workshop on Peace Reportage General Santos City January 20-23 2010

ASPAP (Association of Schools of Public Administration in the Philippines, Inc) Training for Automation Election in the Philippines, Mindanao State University, Marawi March 2010

PAEA (Philippine Art Educator Association)-Faber Castell 1st Art Convention

Pasay City November 2010

 

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