Sandigan nixes reward for informer

The Sandiganbayan has spurned a plea for an informer’s reward of more than P12 billion from a man who claimed to have squealed on Marcos cronies Herminio Disini and couple Ignacio and Fe Roa-Gimenez.

The Sandiganbayan First Division, in an eight-page resolution, said it found “no merit” to the “Notice of Informer’s Charging Lien” filed by Danilo Lihaylihay. The notice was dated Jan. 4, 2007.

In its decision, the Sandiganbayan also said Lihaylihay’s claim should have been filed with the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) and not with the anti-graft court.

“It is clear that the Notice of Informer’s Charging Lien should be filed with the Bureau of Internal Revenue where Danilo Lihaylihay filed his information (against respondents Disini et al) and it is the Secretary of Finance who has the sole jurisdiction to approve or deny the claim for an informer’s reward,” the Sandiganbayan ruling stated. The BIR is an agency under the Department of Finance.

Based on records, Lihaylihay filed sworn information with the BIR and the Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG) against Disini and the Gimenezes on March 11, 1987, April 6, 1991 and April 17, 1991.

Lihayihay demanded a reward of 25 percent, or P12.3 billion, of the P51 billion that he said was illegally acquired by Marcos and Disini.

He also demanded 25 percent or P100 million of the forfeited $8 million from couple Ignacio and Fe Roa Gimenez. Lihaylihay invoked Section 1 of Republic Act No. 2338 in claiming the reward.

But according to the PCGG, there is nothing in the law that empowers the anti-graft court to grant or deny the claim of Lihaylihay. The PCGG added that even if the Sandiganbayan has the power to reward Lihaylihay, the latter failed to exhaust all the administrative remedies before taking his case to the anti-graft court or show substantial evidence to justify his claim.

Lihaylihay argued that a SC ruling stipulates that “statutes offering rewards must be liberally construed in favor of informers and to the purpose for which they are intended with mere technicality yielding to the substantive purpose of the law.”

He said he filed his claim with the Sandiganbayan “for convenience of all concerned and as a matter of right legally demandable and enforceable.”

The Sandiganbayan, in response, said the procedure in processing and evaluating of claims for rewards under that law is contained in the Department of Finance Order No. 46-66.

Section 8 of the DOF order, according to the Sandiganbayan, bestows on the Finance Secretary the power to approve or deny the informer’s reward.