The Sandiganbayan has junked another civil forfeiture case involving P267.371 million in ill-gotten wealth against the late President Ferdinand Marcos, his wife Imelda, and several of their cronies for defective evidence.
On July 21, 1987, the Presidential Commission on Good Government and the Office of the Solicitor General filed a Complaint for Reconveyance, Reversion, Accounting, Restitution, and Damages against the Marcoses and Secretary Fe Roa Gimenez and her husband Ignacio Gimenez, who were considered as their “close business associates.”
Also included were Secretary Vilma Bautista and her husband Gregorio Bautista and former vice president and manager of the Manhattan branch of the Philippine National Bank Oscar Cariño.
Fe reportedly engaged in the unlawful transfer of millions of dollars in government funds into several accounts in her name in foreign countries, then disbursed these funds from her various personal accounts for her and the defendants’ personal use and enrichment.
She also acted as a conduit for the Marcoses in purchasing expensive works of art as well as other properties located in New York City. On the other hand, Ignacio served as the Marcoses’ dummy in certain corporations, among them Allied Banking Corp.
The Gimenezes argued that almost all of the pieces of evidence submitted by the prosecution were “afflicted with defects,” prompting them to file their respective demurrers to evidence in order to challenge their sufficiency.
They complained that most pieces of evidence are nothing but “mere photocopies,” and the PCGG and OCG could not even offer any explanation why they were unable to present the original copy of the documents required.
The prosecution seemed to notice its defect too late, since it even filed motions to render admissibility of certain exhibits and to make tender of excluded evidence. It asked the court to be allowed to submit certified true copies of the documents it had earlier submitted as photocopies. However, their request was denied on June 11, 2018.
Since there was no clear showing that the original documents have been lost, destroyed, or cannot be produced in court, the Sandiganbayan said that the photocopied exhibits must be disregarded, “being untrustworthy of any probative value.”
The anti-graft court said in its resolution dated Oct. 14 that the PCGG and OSG have failed to discharge its burden of providing proper pieces of evidence that could lead to the conviction of the respondents.
“It must also be stated that some of the photocopied exhibits that were submitted by the Republic to this Court are so poor in quality that the letters and numbers stated therein are already unreadable, thereby making it impossible for the Court to discern therefrom the points being sought to be established by the Republic,” the resolution read.
NINE ‘EURO
GENERALS’ CLEARED
Meanwhile, nine ranking officers of the Philippine National Police known as the “Euro generals” have been cleared of graft and illegal use of public funds charges after the Sandiganbayan Second Division granted their demurrer to evidence.
The case against former Police Major Gen. Eliseo Decena dela Paz, Police Col. Tomas Rentoy III, Police Lt. Gen. Ismael Rafanan, Police Brig. Gen. Orlando Pestaño, Police Lt. Col. Samuel Rodriguez, Police Lt. Gen. Emmanuel Carta, retired Police Lt. Romeo Ricardo, Police Major Gen. German Doria, and Police Major Gen. Jaime Garcia Caringal has been dismissed due to the insufficiency of the prosecution’s evidence to prove their guilt beyond reasonable doubt.
They were initially slapped with violations of Section 3(a) and (e) of Republic Act 3019 or the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act as well as three counts of Article 220 of the Revised Penal Code or the Illegal Use of Public Funds, for the reportedly illegal disbursement of P10 million from the confidential intelligence fund of the PNP to be used as contingency fund and travel allowance of the PNP delegation to the 77th International Police Organization General Assembly in Russia.
The prosecution claimed that all the accused were disqualified under the General Appropriations Act from travelling abroad to attend foreign trainings or conferences. The prosecution accused them of acting with deliberate intent to commit a wrongdoing. (Czarina Nicole Ong-Ki)
