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Victor Corpus is not a legitimate officer of the AFP. He was never qualified for commission after his release from 'detention' in 1986 and he was not issued a proper presidential commission by then President Corazon Aquino. All officers in the military receive a presidential commission before they are admitted to the ranks of the AFP. The power of the President to commission an officer cannot be delegated. Instead of a presidential commission, Corpus was issued a letter signed by then Executive Secretary Joker Arroyo ostensibly expressing the President's approval of the proposal to commission Corpus into the ranks of the AFP Officer Corps. This document by itself cannot serve as legal basis for Corpus' commission since it should have contained a direct order by the President and not just what in effect was an indorsement by Arroyo of an alleged 'approval' by the President.

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To compound the error, the letter of Arroyo fails to address two important issues that had to be settled before Corpus could be commisioned: First, he is a convicted felon and needed to be pardoned by no less than the President herself at the time; and Second, he had a pending case before the Supreme Court which was never dropped or closed. Either one of these infirmities would have been enough to disqualify him from even being considered as officer material. The letter of the Chief of Staff, AFP dated 15 August 1986 makes this very clear. So does the Secretary of National Defense indorsement dated August 1986. For some reason Joker Arroyo ignored these arguments and instead forced the issue via a 'transmittal' of a supposed Presidential 'approval'. This transmittal letter from the office of the Executive Secretary, being illegal to begin with, also renders illegal all orders emanating from it, such as the order by the Chief of Staff, AFP to commission Victor Corpus into the ranks of the Officer Corps.

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Efforts to point out this defect were suppressed by the military high command at the time led by Fidel V. Ramos as Chief of Staff, AFP, and by Joker Arroyo at the office of the President.

For fifteen years, this illegal situation existed and Corpus took full advantage of it. Now, for the first time in the history of the AFP, a false officer leads its intelligence arm.