OSP-OSG FACE-OFF TODAY ON GARCIA PLEA BARGAIN AGREEMENT
MANILA, JANUARY 10, 2011 (STAR) By Michael Punongbayan - Lawyers of the Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP) and the Office of the Solicitor General (OSG) are expected to face each other today before the Sandiganbayan to debate on the legality of the plea bargaining agreement with former military comptroller Carlos Garcia.
The Sandiganbayan is scheduled to hear the motion for intervention filed by Solicitor General Anselmo Cadiz seeking to void the plea bargaining agreement for being illegal.
Assistant Special Prosecutors Jose Balmeo Jr. and Joseph Capistrano of the OSP, the prosecutorial arm of the Office of the Ombudsman, are expected to argue in favor of the prosecution.
Observers said an interesting legal battle is expected to begin considering that both parties are representing the Philippine government.
OSP lawyers have been the one prosecuting Garcia, originally charged with plunder but was allowed to plead guilty to lesser offenses last month that allowed him to be released on bail.
The OSG, on the other hand, argued the plea bargaining agreement was illegal since the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), as the offended party, was not properly notified of the arrangement.
The OSG said the plea bargaining agreement between Garcia and the prosecutors was done illegally, citing "blatant irregularities" in the deal because of grave legal infirmities, which render it null and void.
The OSG argued the deal was against the rules because the evidence presented by the prosecution halfway through the trial was strong enough to convict Garcia.
Cadiz said there is no logic on why the Sandiganbayan denied Garcia's petition for bail on Jan. 7 last year on grounds that the evidence was strong, and then in February, the special prosecutors hatched a plea bargaining agreement that became final in May.
The plea bargaining agreement came under fire as soon as the public came to know about it on Dec. 16, 2010 when Garcia was suddenly allowed to plead guilty to the lesser crimes of direct bribery and facilitating money laundering.
Amid the adverse public opinion, the OSP defended the deal in pointing out that it will allow the Philippine government to instantly recover P135.4 million of Garcia's supposed ill-gotten wealth.
They said the deal "is consistent with the interest of the State since justice will be served proceeding from an assured and agreed plea to a lesser offense."
But before it can categorically answer allegations of irregularity, prosecutors and the Office of the Ombudsman, as well as Garcia, were barred from talking to the media by a gag order.
The OSG filed a motion to intervene after President Aquino himself ordered a review of the case following the recommendations of former ombudsman Simeon Marcelo and former special prosecutor Dennis Villa-Ignacio.
Former Sandiganbayan justice Manuel Pamaran, however, argued that the plea bargaining agreement is valid and legal.
Pamaran also disagreed on the move of the OSG to intervene in the case.
"No, the OSG has no right to intervene. I'm very absolute about that. It has no right to intervene if the case is in the trial stage because it is vested by law on the prosecutor," Pamaran said.
He said the OSG could question the issue before the Supreme Court but not before the Sandiganbayan that is still hearing the case.
Pamaran said it is also wrong to say that the plea bargaining agreement is illegal based on the argument that the offended party did not give its consent.
"Inasmuch as it involves the military, the military is only a nominal party because the money being represented by the military belongs to the government and the prosecutor represents the government. So the military is ably represented also by the prosecutor," Pamaran said.
"If it is criminal procedure, it is in the tip of my finger," said Pamaran, also a former city prosecutor of Manila and a lower court judge.
Pamaran said the deal is valid and that there is nothing irregular about the process entered into between the OSP and Garcia.
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