Ombudsman affirms suspension of 'Euro generals'

MANILA, Philippines -  Ombudsman Ma. Merceditas Gutierrez affirmed her decision to place under six-month preventive suspension the six police officials who were implicated in the so-called “Euro generals” scandal.

In her order issued yesterday, Gutierrez junked the appeal of the police officers linked to retired police comptroller Director Eliseo de la Paz and his wife who were caught carrying 105,000 euros or P6.9 million at a Moscow airport in Russia in 2008.

Gutierrez said there is no sufficient reason to reverse an earlier ruling that suspended Special Disbursing Officer Samuel Rodriguez, Finance Service Director Orlando Pestano, Budget Division Director Tomas Rentoy III, Superintendent Elmel Pelobello, Directorate for Human Resources and Doctrine Development chief Director German Doria, and Directorate for Operations chief Director Silverio Alarcio Jr.

The six officials are being investigated for their involvement in the anomalous trip of De la Paz and several other senior police officials to Russia in October 2008 for the 77th International Police (Interpol) General Assembly held at St. Petersburg in Russia.

They are facing administrative charges for grave misconduct, dishonesty, and conduct prejudicial to the best interest of the service and criminal charges of graft and falsification along with higher ranking police officials led by De la Paz.

De la Paz and his wife Marie Fe were held at Moscow airport last Oct. 11, 2008, for carrying undeclared cash amounting to 105,000 euros when they attended the Interpol conference.

The other police officials in the PNP delegation to the Interpol meeting were Deputy Directors General Emmanuel Carta, Ismael Rafanan, Directors Romeo Ricardo, Silverio Alarcio, German Doria and Jaime Caringal, Superintendent Elmer Pelobello, the aide of the delegation.

Gutierrez issued preventive suspension orders against only six of the 12 respondents in the case considering that De la Paz, Avelino Razon Jr., Ricardo, Carta, Rafanan, and Caringal have already retired from the service.

The wife of former PNP chief Jesus Verzosa, Cynthia Verzosa and the wife of De la Paz, Maria Fe are also being probed for joining the controversial trip.

Anti-graft investigators said Rodriguez, Pestano, Rentoy III, Pelobello, Doria, and Alarcio Jr. are barred from traveling abroad pursuant to the government’s austerity measures and the travel ban on retiring officials and officers as provided for under the General Provisions of the 2008 General Appropriations Act.

Aside from being allowed to join the trip, they are also accused of receiving travel allowances in the amounts more than the daily subsistence allowance permitted by the prevailing rules, and falsifying the acknowledgment receipts covering their travel allowances that were charged against the PNP Confidential and Intelligence Funds in the liquidation of their expenses.

They allegedly used regular machine readable passports which constitutes a violation of the Passport Law, diverted routes contrary to the submitted and approved itinerary, and took business class plane tickets instead of economy in going to St. Petersburg.

Pelobello allegedly prepared the computation of the travel allowances of the delegates without consideration on the limits provided in the UNDP Index on the daily subsistence allowance and the prevailing average exchange rate at the time the request for funding was submitted for approval.

His claim of the official and/or obligatory participation of the respondents’ spouse to the Interpol assembly despite the fact that the records and assemblage do not call for their involvement is also being assailed.

Rodriguez, Rentoy and Pestano allegedly disbursed government funds anomalously, specifically the total amount P2,192,560 taken from the PNP Confidential and Intelligence Funds, for the travel allowances of the respondent delegates.

Rentoy had filed a motion for reconsideration for the suspension order issued against them for alleged lack of actual and legal basis.

The Ombudsman denied the motion and said, “there exists no sufficient ground to reverse the Order placing the respondent-movant under preventive suspension for a period of six months without pay.”

She said current PNP chief Director General Raul Bacalzo should implement the suspension order within five days from receipt of the same and submit a Compliance Report.

In the 87-page complaint lodged before the Preliminary Investigation Office (PMO) of the Office of the Ombudsman in August 2010, the Field Investigation Office (FIO) said those who participated in the trip committed graft for causing undue injury to any party including the government or giving any private party unwarranted benefits, advantage or preference through manifest partiality or gross inexcusable negligence.

Investigators said the incident at the Shremetyevo International Airport in Moscow where De la Paz and his wife were barred from taking their flight home after they were caught carrying 105,000 euros “corrupted and vilified the reputation of the PNP.”

PMO investigators are now conducting a preliminary probe, which will determine if graft and other cases should be filed against all of the respondents before the Sandiganbayan.