By KIMBERLY JANE TAN, GMA News

In a bid to curb corruption within the military organization, the Department of National Defense (DND) on Thursday said that it is open to allowing an audit of its intelligence funds.

During Thursday's blue ribbon committee hearing, Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin said they are open to an audit of its intelligence funds "without compromising national security concerns."

"No corrupt practices shall happen under my watch. We will never allow indiscriminate spending," he told the Senate committee.

Gazmin explained that the audit is one of the suggestions by its investigating committee, whose task is to propse ways to curb corruption within the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP).

The DND chief said that also among the suggestions of the committee were:

computerization of the AFP log and financial management

strict implementation of laws

creation of a defense acquisition bureau

enhancement of auditing mechanisms

shift from cash to real logistics

continuing education

reconstruction of AFP financial and logistice

Earlier in the hearing, Armed Forces chief General Eduardo Oban Jr. admitted that the recent corruption scandals that rocked the military have the organization to institute reforms.

Oban said that when the AFP was tagged as the country's most corrupt agency, the sense of honor of more than 100,000 soldiers was "scarred."

"Never in the entire history of our nation has our Armed Forces been so disgraced. We lost what every soldier holds dear, our sense of honor. Having experienced this sense of loss has given us motivation to ensure reform within our ranks," he said.

As part of the reform efforts, Oban said "internal audits have become more frequent and are conducted randomly."

The hearing is ongoing as of posting time. — RSJ, GMA News