Panel created to probe Rabusa's plunder complaint vs 3 ex-AFP chiefs

MANILA, Philippines -  The Department of Justice (DOJ) has created a panel that would conduct the preliminary investigation on the plunder charges filed by retired military budget officer George Rabusa, who exposed alleged rampant corruption in the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), against 17 officials, including three former AFP chiefs.

Justice Secretary Leila de Lima announced in a press conference that she had designated Prosecutor General Claro Arellano, head of the DOJ’s National Prosecution Service, as chairman of the panel.

She said Arellano would pick two other state prosecutors to assist him.

“My instruction is to focus on that case expeditiously and dispose of that case on PI (preliminary investigation),” she revealed.

It was a rare instance that the chief prosecutor of the DOJ, who usually reviews resolutions of prosecutors, was assigned to head a PI panel.

De Lima said Arellano agreed to the task after the AFP revealed its plan to provide legal assistance to its officials named respondents in Rabusa’s complaint.

In his complaint affidavit filed in DOJ last week, Rabusa sought the indictment of former AFP chiefs of staff Diomedio Villanueva, Roy Cimatu, and Efren Abu; former military comptrollers Jacinto Ligot and Carlos Garcia, and others for plunder as punishable under RA 7080.

Aside from the five former military officers, Rabusa named as respondents Col. Cirilo Tomas Donato, Col. Roy Devesa, Maj. Emerson Angulo, retired Maj. Gen. Hilario Atendido, B/Gen. Benito de Leon, retired Lt. Col. Ernesto Paranis, Capt. Kenneth Paglinawan, Col. Gilbert Gapay, Col. Robert Arevalo, and Maj. Gen. Epineto Logico.

Rabusa also included in his complaint former Intelligence Service of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (ISAFP) resident auditor Divina Cabrera and accountant Generoso del Castillo as respondents.

He submitted to the DOJ details and supporting documents on corruption in the military through misappropriation and conversion of millions in public funds, which he had exposed in congressional inquiries some three months ago.

“Respondents took advantage of their official positions, authority, and influence to unjustly enrich themselves at the expense and to the damage and prejudice of the Filipino people and the Republic of the Philippines,” stated Rabusa’s 86-page complaint.

In another case, the DOJ also created another panel of prosecutors to conduct the preliminary investigation on the graft complaint filed by Finance Secretary Cesar Purisima against executives of the Local Water Utilities Administration (LWUA) led by former Surigao del Sur Rep. Prospero Pichay Jr. for the allegedly anomalous buyout of the troubled Express Savings Bank Inc. (EXSBI) that allegedly resulted to losses to government worth P480 million.

Pichay is chairman of the LWUA board. The other respondents were board members Renato Velasco, Susana Dumlao Vargas, Bonifacio Mario Peña Sr. and Daniel Landingin.

In her Department Order No. 289, De Lima designated a three-woman panel composed of Senior Assistant State Prosecutors Rosalina Aquino and Aileen Marie Gutierrez and Assistant State Prosecutor Edna Valenzuela.

In his complaint filed last April 6, Purisima accused members of the LWUA board of violating the Central Bank Act, Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act and malversation of public funds for the purchase of the Laguna-based bank.

He alleged “the LWUA Board caused undue injury to the government and gave the Gatchalian family unwarranted benefits and advantage by directing the acquisition of and authorizing payment for the subject shares at a total price of P80 million when the actual book value of the same subject shares at that time were approximately P31 million.”

“The LWUA Board willfully misused and dissipated public funds to acquire a financially troubled and failing bank, and in the process, bailed out the Gatchalian family from an unprofitable investment at the expense of LWUA and the national government,” it added.