'Sandiganbayan justices should resign'

MANILA, Philippines – A party-list lawmaker will file a resolution at the House of Representatives today, calling for the resignation of all justices of the Sandiganbayan in the wake of its approval of the plea bargaining agreement between government prosecutors and former military comptroller Carlos Garcia.

Bayan Muna Rep. Teddy Casiño said he will file the resolution to condemn the move of the justices of the anti-graft body.

“We want Congress to support this because of the strong evidence against Garcia," Casiño said in a media forum in San Juan City this morning.

He also warned concerned justices that they would likely suffer the fate of Ombudsman Merciditas Gutierrez, who was forced to resign from her post late last month.

“We started with the Ombudsman, probably we can also start with the Sandibayan justices,” he pointed out.

He said Sandiganbayan’s decision upholding the plea deal was expected as it had allowed Garcia to post bail.

“We we're not totally surprised because Sandiganbayan earlier has allowed Garcia to post bail,” he said.

Casiño added that the move of the Sandiganbayan justices preempts the legal remedies on the Garcia case that should have been used by the next Ombudsman.

“Inunahan na ng Sandiganbayan ang bagong Ombudsman na remedyuhan. They should have waited for the developments,” he said.

The resignation call came after the Sandiganbayan approved on Monday the plea deal between the Office of Ombudsman and Garcia.

In a resolution penned by Presiding Justice Edilberto Sandoval, the graft court disclosed that Garcia followed all the requisites in entering the plea bargain deal with the government.

The case stemmed from the plunder case filed by the government against Garcia, accusing him of amassing questionable wealth during his stint in the military as its comptroller.

The original complaint required Garcia to return more than P300 million of ill-gotten wealth. Garcia will return only half of the amount or P135 million under the approved agreement.

The Sandiganbayan also denied the motion for intervention filed by the Office of the Solicitor General (OSG).

President Benigno Aquino III yesterday lambasted the Sandiganbayan justices for approving the deal.

“I was wondering how the Sandiganbayan could have arrived at such a decision. It’s like they’re living in a vacuum. They seemed to have not heard all the information unearthed in testimonies at the Senate,” he told reporters at the Commission on Audit.

He cited in particular a statement from Special Prosecutor Wendell Sulit regarding her and her colleagues’ being unaware of evidence raised during Senate hearings.

“Didn’t the special prosecutor herself say that had they been made aware of that evidence, they would not have pushed for the plea bargain? How could that decision not have surprised you?” Aquino said.