'Palace hands tied in ex-AFP comptroller's case'

MANILA, Philippines –  President Aquino cannot intervene in the case of former military comptroller Carlos Garcia at this stage, Malacañang said yesterday.

Deputy presidential spokesperson Abigail Valte said the plea bargaining agreement only involves Garcia himself and the Office of the Ombudsman, an independent body.

Valte said Aquino has ordered Executive Secretary Paquito Ochoa Jr. to check the details on how the plea bargain came about despite the overwhelming evidence against the Garcias.

“Gusto lang niya malaman lahat ng detalye (He just wants to know all the details),” she said, adding that Aquino has talked with former ombudsman Simeon Marcelo.

Valte said the executive department can only participate in the Garcia case once the plea bargain agreement, which the anti-graft court will most likely approve, is elevated to the Court of Appeals or the Supreme Court.

“Legally, we cannot compel (Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez) to explain,” she said.

“But she has to answer, not necessarily to the President, but to everybody else. Essentially, they (Office of the Ombudsman) should explain why this came about,” she added.

Garcia walked out of detention Saturday after posting P60,000 bail.

The Sandiganbayan allowed Garcia to post bail in a plea bargain deal with the government in which he pleaded guilty to direct bribery and to violation of the anti-money laundering law.

Garcia was originally charged with the capital offense of plunder for allegedly acquiring more than P300 million in unexplained wealth when he was Armed Forces comptroller in 2004.

His wife, Clarita, and children Ian Carl, Juan Paulo and Timothy Clark, who all had fled to the United States, were also included in the case.

Garcia is expected to receive his jail sentence for direct bribery and money laundering before the Sandiganbayan this week.

He will have to present himself before the anti-graft court’s Second Division for the promulgation of decision.

STAR sources said the government can recover an estimated P135.4 million of Garcia and his family’s alleged unexplained wealth, including an expensive condominium unit in New York.

Garcia will become the first person to be convicted of the crime of money laundering.

Prosecutors and Garcia’s lawyer Constantino de Jesus refused to divulge details about the plea bargaining agreement, which was signed in February this year.

– With Michael Punong­bayan