(Eagle News) — The Philippine National Police has sacked former Special Action Force chief Benjamin Lusad and the others charged before the Ombudsman over the P59.8-million subsistence allowance mess.
PNP spokesperson Chief Supt. John Bulalacao said the two who were assigned in Camp Crame have been “effectively relieved today from their current position.”
He was apparently referring to Lusad and one of his co-accused, former SAF budget and fiscal officer Senior Supt. Andre Dizon.
Bulalacao said the others who were charged, Senior Police Officer 2 Maila Bustamante and Senior Police Officer 1 Jack James Irica of PNP-SAF Finance, have “already been relieved,” and were now in the holding unit of the SAF headquarters.
According to former and present SAF members who acted as complainants, during Lusad’s stint as SAF director from July 2016 to January 2018, they were only given their Additional Subsistence Allowance they were entitled to under the law for the months of January 2016 and January to July 2017.
The complainants said during their meetings on March 27 and April 6, Lusad and Dizon merely apologized and said that the fund had already been used for “operational expenses, fellowships and trainings.”
But based on the documents retrieved from the PNP-SAF management, a total of P58,849,590 million had been allotted for the SAF troopers’ ASA for the months of February to December 2016 and August to December 2017, the complainants said.
