DOJ starts plunder hearing vs GMA

MANILA, Philippines - Former officials of former President and now Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo rallied behind her and denied the plunder charges against them at the Department of Justice (DOJ) over alleged misuse of Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) funds worth over P550 million in 2004.

Former executive secretary Alberto Romulo, former health secretary Francisco Duque III, former OWWA administrator Virgilio Angelo, former labor secretary Patricia Sto. Tomas and former OWWA board member and now Labor Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz all denied yesterday allegations of former solicitor general Frank Chavez that the funds were used to fund Arroyo’s presidential bid.

In a hearing for preliminary investigation yesterday, the former Arroyo administration officials asked the DOJ panel to dismiss the complaint for lack of basis and sufficient evidence.

Duque said the charges were baseless, giving assurance that the OWWA funds identified by Chavez all went to the benefit of overseas workers.

“There is a COA (Commission on Audit) report to prove that these funds went to OFWs and were not used during the 2004 elections,” Duque told reporters before the hearing.

He also explained that the funds were not released in 2004 – contrary to claim of Chavez – since they were allocated in 2005.

Sto. Tomas, for her part, told the DOJ probe panel that the OWWA projects were aboveboard.

“We did everything in accordance with the law. I am at a loss as to why we are here. The government is wasting its time here,” she stressed.

“It’s easy to accuse and really hard to tell the truth – especially for people who make up stories just to accuse others. I don’t believe in witch hunting,” she remarked, apparently referring to various charges filed against the former administration.

The former official stressed that COA would have not allowed the OWWA project if it was irregular.

Duque and Sto. Tomas both subscribed their counter-affidavits before the panel.

Romulo, Angelo and Baldoz had submitted their respective answers to different city prosecutors last week, as they were unable to attend yesterday’s hearing in DOJ.

Arroyo was also ready to submit her counter-affidavit but was not able to return to the country from an official trip in Spain to attend the hearing, according to her lawyer Benjamin Santos.

“There is really no basis for the charges,” Santos told reporters as he explained that his client would subscribe her counter-affidavit upon arrival.

Chavez earlier said the absence of Arroyo in the hearing has been causing delay in the resolution of the complaint.

But Santos said they don’t intend to delay the hearings and that Arroyo’s failure to return on time from her official trip was due to unforeseen circumstances.

“She was supposed to have returned in the middle of last week, but she had other matters to attend to. It is not our intention to delay the proceedings,” he said.

“We would like to assure the honorable hearing panel that she’ll be coming within this week and therefore, as soon as she arrives, we are going to have her sign before the panel or a representative that a panel will be designating, that she will swear to her counter-affidavit,” Santos added.

Despite objection from the camp of Chavez, the DOJ panel chaired by Senior Assistant State Prosecutor Theodore Villanueva gave Arroyo a last chance and set another hearing on July 22 for submission of her answer to the complaint.

Other respondents – former labor undersecretary Manuel Imson, Mina Figueroa, Caroline Rogge, Victorino Balais, Gregorio Oca, and Virginia Pasalo – have also denied the charges.

In his amended complaint last month, Chavez accused Arroyo and the others of plunder, qualified theft, graft and corruption and violations of Article VI Section 29 (3) of the Constitution, Articles 217 and 220 of Revised Penal Code and Section 261 of Omnibus Election Code.