GARCIA BAIL PETITION RAILROADED - UNNAMED OFFICIALS
MANILA, JANUARY 2, 2011 (STAR) By Aurea Calica - Government authorities tasked by President Aquino to look into the case of retired general Carlos Garcia exposed and questioned yesterday the alleged railroading of the petition for bail of the former military comptroller, saying it was filed and granted all in one day.
The officials, who asked not to be named, said the urgent motion to post bail of Garcia filed by his lawyer Constantino de Jesus on Dec. 16 was put on the agenda and resolved on the very same day by the Sandiganbayan�s Second Division.
The sources said at least three days must be allotted before the motion could be set for hearing in open court and in this case, since Dec. 19 was a Sunday, the hearing should have been scheduled on Dec. 20, a Monday.
The sources said the documents would show how fast the Sandiganbayan acted on Garcia�s motion.
But the motion was immediately granted without any objection from the special prosecutors handling the case, apparently because a plea bargaining agreement had been reached.
In the resolution authored by Sandiganbayan Justice Teresita Diaz-Baldos and concurred in by Justices Edilberto Sandoval and Samuel Martires, Garcia was allowed to post P30,000 bail each for indirect bribery and violation of the Anti-Money Laundering Law or a total of P60,000.
In a plea bargaining agreement, Garcia pleaded to lesser offenses of indirect bribery and violation of the Anti-Money Laundering Law. He was accused of and charged with plunder involving P303 million when he was still the comptroller of the Armed Forces of the Philippines.
The sources said the �blitzkrieg� action should be explained along with the plea bargaining agreement since a special division of the Sandiganbayan composed of five justices earlier denied Garcia�s petition for bail because the evidence against him was strong.
The anti-graft court�s special division said the testimony of Garcia�s wife, Clarita, could not be used against the former military official because it was a mere narration of facts and not meant to indict her husband.
There is existing jurisprudence that a spouse�s testimony cannot be used against his or her partner.
The sources said the impending promulgation of Garcia�s case was alarming and that the AFP and the defense department must speed up action to stop the plea bargaining agreement, being the offended parties.
The sources disclosed that the President would want to exhaust all means to go after Garcia, saying that the retired military general should not be allowed to walk away from plunder despite strong evidence against him.
The President had said that the AFP and the Department of National Defense could also stop the plea bargaining agreement that allowed Garcia to post bail.
Aquino said this was one of the angles being pursued by his legal team as the DND and the AFP could be considered the �offended party� in the case.
He said the plea bargain could only happen with the consent of the offended party, so he tasked DND Secretary Voltaire Gazmin and Armed Forces Chief of Staff Ricardo David to study the case as well and try to move to stop the agreement.
The President�s legal team said they were still determining how his office could intervene because they had no involvement in the case that was between the Ombudsman�s special prosecutors and the Sandiganbayan.
P-Noy wants Garcia pinned down
Aquino had said that his administration was bent on pursuing charges against the former general.
He said his overriding concern was the statement from Garcia�s wife Clarita who �practically admitted everything� that was imputed against them.
The President said the government lawyers would study the technicalities as Garcia was bound by what his wife had stated. He noted that the only issue would be if her statements were properly authenticated.
�Morally, they have admitted. There is question on the amount that (was stolen). The allegation is P300 million plus and he�s returning P135 million, not even than half. And to me, I don�t even care about the money as much as making sure that he gets what he deserves,� he said.
The President said that there should not be an impression in this country that if one would steal, he or she would be �forgiven.�
�You steal, you will be caught,� Aquino said, adding that his legal team was studying all the options as regards the Garcia case because there were those who expressed belief that the charges were ill prepared.
�So that is being resolved. We have time because there is no promulgation yet. I said if this is not the route, if plunder has already been closed, he has amassed that much money, there are other cases that can be developed, develop it and prioritize it,� Aquino said.
He said they were considering the opinions of former Ombudsman Simeon Marcelo that the plea bargaining agreement was �illegal� and �anomalous� since it was against the interests of the government.
Marcelo said the government was about to win back Garcia�s alleged P303-million worth of illegally acquired assets but the special prosecutors entered into a plea bargain even after the evidence had been presented.
Marcelo said under the rules of court, a plea bargaining agreement could only be entered if the prosecution had not yet started presentation of evidence.
In this case, Marcelo said the prosecution had already completed evidence presentation and the court had already ruled that the prosecution already presented sufficient evidence to convict Garcia.
----------------------------------------------------------
� Copyright, 2011 by PHILIPPINE HEADLINE NEWS ONLINE
All rights reserved
----------------------------------------------------------
PHILIPPINE HEADLINE NEWS ONLINE [PHNO] WEBSITE
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
Follow us on Twitter: http://twitter.com/phnotweet
This is the PHILIPPINE HEADLINE NEWS ONLINE (PHNO) Mailing List.
To stop receiving our news items, please send a blank e-mail addressed to: phno-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com
Please visit our homepage at: http://www.newsflash.org/
(c) Copyright 2009. All rights reserved.
-------------------------------------------------------------
