The Philippine Online Chronicles

A Department of National Defense (DND) undersecretary was terminated by Malacanang, ABS-CBN News Online reported today.

According to the report, DND Internal Affairs head and former Navy Admiral Ariston Delos Reyes was recalled from his duties in a letter signed by Executive Secretary Leandro Mendoza.

Delos Reyes served the department under the helm of Secretary Norberto Gonzales. The DND was previously headed by administration presidential candidate Gilberto Teodoro.

In a column by Ellen Tordesillas on Malaya, Delos Reyes' termination, according to Mendoza, was “due to reorganization” among cabinet officials. A number of cabinet members resigned recently after a Supreme Court ruling banned officials running in the May elections from holding executive positions. Delos Reyes, however, is not running in the elections.

Tordesillas further revealed that Delos Reyes was offered by Mendoza a “consultancy” position in the DND but Delos Reyes declined the offer. "Politely, I thanked him and begged off. When asked what I intended to do after government service, I answered, ‘Fade away, Sir,’" Delos Reyes said.

Delos Reyes, a bemedalled Navy officer from the Philippine Military Academy Batch 1971, has initiated landmark investigations within the defense department on anomalous bidding and procurements of equipment, which included the acquisition of helicopters, mortars, and ammunition that “were found among the personal belongings” of a DND assistant secretary which he did not identify.

During his stint with the Navy, Delos Reyes was given the Monetary Incentive Award “for discovering an error in computation of the unit price of URC 187 radio which resulted in overpayment of Vetronix by the AFP, the rectification of which resulted in government savings of more than P 3.8 million.”

Delos Reyes was also known as a critical leader in the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), slamming the P19 million beautification project of Camp Aguinaldo under the helm of then Chief-of-Staff Efren Abu in 2005.

The termination of Delos Reyes came at the height of the appointment of AFP Chief-of-Staff General Delfin Bangit and reports on the suspicions of a looming failure of elections.