PALACE: GARCIA COHORTS WILL BE PROBED; WILL INVESTIGATE EX-DND BOSS
MANILA, JANUARY 15, 2011 (STAR) By Aurea Calica – Malacañang will not stop any investigation into the alleged involvement of former Defense secretary Angelo Reyes and other officials in the criminal charges filed against former military comptroller retired general Carlos Garcia, who is facing plunder charges for allegedly stealing government funds.
Parañaque City Rep. Roilo Golez said Garcia could not have stolen hundreds of millions of pesos from the coffers of the Armed Forces of the Philippines by himself and branded Reyes as Garcia's "padrino."
"I think it was alleged in the information against General Garcia that he (amassed money as comptroller) in connivance or in cooperation with Jane Does or John Does. Now if there are evidence that would show Angelo Reyes (was involved), then we don't see any reason why he should not be investigated," deputy presidential spokesperson Abigail Valte told government-run radio dzRB.
Valte refused to say whether an investigation into the alleged involvement of Reyes could strengthen the case against Garcia.
"At this point, we don't know because we have not seen the evidence and whatever is the evidence against a certain person (will be the basis). So that question can only be addressed once we've seen (the evidence)," Valte said.
Reyes was secretary of national defense when Garcia was comptroller; Reyes was Armed Forces of the Philippines' chief of staff when retired Maj. Gen. Jacinto Ligot was the comptroller.
Ligot is also being investigated for possible plunder after authorities discovered his properties in California in the United States, including a condominium unit at the Essensa in Fort Bonifacio, even if his salary was only P40,000 a month.
Golez said Reyes was the one who was deciding for the Armed Forces during the time of Garcia and Ligot.
He also said that Reyes's wife Teresita traveled abroad nearly 50 times in a span of 11 years.
He questioned where the Reyeses were able to get the funds for their travels, saying the number of trips reflected the lifestyle of a "super millionaire."
Golez also called for an investigation on five other AFP chiefs under whom Garcia served as comptroller.
Valte also backed Justice Secretary Leila de Lima, who had been assailing the special prosecutors who entered into a plea bargaining agreement with Garcia and allowed the retired general to escape with the P303.27 million he allegedly stole from government coffers.
Valte was reacting to Supreme Court spokesman Midas Marquez's statement that De Lima did not have the legal authority to speak on the matter because there was no final ruling yet.
"I think we need not wait for the damage to occur before we take action. You (officials) represent the people. We cannot just take things sitting down," Valte said.
Valte said that based on Malacañang's review of Garcia's case, there was strong evidence to pin him down on plunder charges.
President Aquino had questioned why the Ombudsman allowed Garcia to plead guilty to lesser offenses under the plea bargain agreement when the evidence was strong against the former military comptroller.
The special prosecutors handling the case also said plunder was hard to prove because of lack of evidence to back up such charge.
But Valte said Garcia's case was not as simple as running away with P50 million in public funds and thus get away with plunder.
"He committed a lot of acts based on court records and this would show it was a systematic scheme that was being employed by (Garcia)," Valte said.
FROM MALAYA
De Lima wants to go after those who 'coddled' Garcia BY EVANGELINE DE VERA WHATEVER it takes.
Justice Secretary Leila de Lima yesterday said special prosecutors of the Office of the Ombudsman may be investigated by the executive for their act of entering into a plea bargain agreement with retired Maj. Gen. Carlos Garcia who was charged with plunder for amassing some P303 million while he was AFP comptroller.
De Lima said while the Ombudsman may be reprimanded or reproved only by Congress, the Office of the President may exercise its disciplinary powers over its deputy officials, including special prosecutors.
"Dati ko na sinabi na the Office of the President should take them to task. Meron disciplinary powers ang Office of the President. It has jurisdiction over the deputies, the lower officers. So pwedeng ipaimbestiga iyan because we have not heard a cogent explanation from them on those points that I raised," she said.
De Lima is also not ruling out the possibility of a lifestyle check on special prosecutors.
"Whatever it takes to put them to task. Unang-una, iimbestigahan na muna kung may paglabag ba. Ano ang kanilang ginawa? Although one thing going sa kanila, there's a presumption of regularity. But with all of these questions na di naman nila nasasagot ng diretso, di ba dapat imbestigahan din sila?" she said.
De Lima specifically wants to know why Special Prosecutor Wendell Barreras-Sulit struck a deal with Garcia.
Sulit has said forging a settlement with Garcia is a better option than seeing him get acquitted due to lack of evidence or witnesses.
De Lima also questioned the grant of bail to Garcia even though the Sandiganbayan had not yet approved the plea bargain agreement.
She said even the fact that government was able to uncover that the Garcias had some P135 million in assets is already sufficient evidence that he illegally obtained these considering his salary as public officer.
"Hindi ba sapat na ebidensiya na nakuha yan lahat, na na-amass lahat yan ng mga Garcia? Hindi ma-explain, then that's plunder," De Lima said.
Garcia had been in detention since 2005 until December 18 when he was allowed to post bail of P60,000. This was two days after he pleaded guilty to the lesser offenses of direct bribery and violation of a section of the anti-money laundering law, as agreed on in the plea bargain.
Malaya Business Insight earlier reported that based on records of the case, it was the prosecution that pushed for the approval of the plea bargaining agreement.
Former Special Prosecutor Dennis Villa-Ignacio has also voiced concern about the repeated pronouncements of Sulit and Deputy Special Prosecutor Jesus Micael that government evidence was insufficient to convict Garcia and his family in the plunder charge, while nothing has been heard from Garcia's lawyer or Garcia himself.
----------------------------------------------------------
Chief News Editor: Sol Jose Vanzi
© 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.
-------------------------------------------------------------
