Graft complaint vs Abalos to be strengthened

MANILA, Philippines – Prosecutors of the Office of the Ombudsman have asked the Sandiganbayan to give them more time to amend the graft complaint and strengthen the case filed against former Commission on Elections (Comelec) chairman Benjamin Abalos Sr.

Prosecution Bureau IV director Rabendranath Uy asked the anti-graft court last Tuesday to move the arraignment to a later date because “the prosecution perceived the need to amend the Information in the instant case.”

Deputy Special Prosecutor Jesus Micael said revising the charge sheet does not mean that the original complaint was defective as Abalos had claimed.

Abalos is facing a graft case before the Sandiganbayan Fourth Division for his alleged involvement in the allegedly anomalous and grossly overpriced national broadband network (NBN) contract between the government and Chinese firm ZTE Corp.

Micael explained that any time before the arraignment, the prosecution has the right to amend the information either to strengthen, improve, add, or even to correct typographical errors.

“It doesn’t necessarily mean that the information is defective,” he told The STAR after government lawyers moved for the postponement of Abalos’ arraignment, which has been set on July 20.

Special Prosecutor Wendell Barreras-Sulit said the prosecution simply wants to make the complaint stronger and more emphatic of the elements of the crime.

“Para wala nang palusot ang akusado (so that the accused has no excuse). We have to protect (the interest of) the people of the Philippines,” she stressed.

Micael said that Abalos’ claim that he is not liable for violation of the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act because the NBN-ZTE transaction had nothing to do with his position as Comelec chairman is incorrect.

He said Section 3(h) of the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act does not only cover acts “directly or indirectly having financial or pecuniary interest in any business, contract or transaction in connection with which he intervenes or takes part in his official capacity” since it also penalizes acts “which he is prohibited by the Constitution or by any law from having any interest” for being the head of a constitutional body.

Micael said the 1987 Constitution, particularly Article IX, which covers common provisions for constitutional commissions like the Comelec, bars Abalos from being “financially interested, directly or indirectly, in any contract with, or in any franchise or privilege granted by the government, any of its subdivisions, agencies, or instrumentalities, including government-owned or controlled corporations or their subsidiaries.”