Ombudsman to review DOJ recommendation to file plunder raps vs 2 ex-AFP chiefs

MANILA, Philippines - The Office of the Ombudsman will do an extensive review of the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) recommendation to file plunder charges against two former Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) chiefs and nine other military officials and civilians.

Ombudsman Conchita Carpio-Morales is now moving for the creation of team that will evaluate the DOJ’s investigation to determine if cases should indeed be filed before the Sandiganbayan.

STAR sources said a senior lawyer from the Office of the Special Prosecutor is likely to head the panel, which will review all documents, testimonies and evidence.

The DOJ on Thursday recommended the filing of plunder charges against former AFP chiefs Diomedio Villanueva and Roy Cimatu; former military comptrollers Jacinto Ligot and Carlos Garcia; Intelligence Service of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (ISAFP) budget officer Col. Cirilo Tomas Donato; Col. Roy Devesa, former executive assistant to the late AFP chief Angelo Reyes; retired Maj. Gen. Hilario Atendido, alleged bagman of Villanueva; retired Lt. Col. Ernesto Paranis, commanding officer of the Finance Service Unit of the ISAFP; Brig. Gen. Benito de Leon; and former ISAFP resident auditor Divina Cabrera and accountant Generoso del Castillo.

Former military budget officer Lt. Col. George Rabusa’s revelations as to how the respondents were involved in diverting and pocketing some P2.3 billion are among the strongest testimonial evidence used as a basis for the cases.

The Office of the Ombudsman received a copy of the DOJ’s 101-page Resolution yesterday.

If the review team finds sufficient basis to proceed, it is expected to recommend indictment before the Sandiganbayan where Garcia and Ligot are also facing other criminal cases arising from alleged ill-gotten wealth.

In search of ‘substantial justice’

Cimatu, through his lawyer Sixto Antonio, questioned the DOJ’s recommendation.

Antonio said they would ask the Office of the Ombudsman to conduct a new and separate investigation into Rabusa’s complaint, alleging that the DOJ panel chaired by Prosecutor General Claro Arellano just based their findings on “spurious and unofficial documents.”

“This is not a triumph of justice. It is a travesty... a gross injustice. It is a black eye to the country’s justice system because the DOJ fact-finding panel has allowed a complainant, who is ill motivated and wanting to cover up the ill-gotten wealth he has acquired for himself through sly means and malversation of public funds, to perjure himself and to use his false statement to pin down innocent persons to extricate himself of his criminal acts,” Antonio said in a statement.

The lawyer said they plan to file a motion asking the Ombudsman to disregard the DOJ resolution issued last Thursday “in the interest of substantial justice.”

Antonio reiterated Cimatu’s defense that there is no evidence to prove that the retired general and the others are liable for misuse of public funds during their stint in the military.

He said the charges just came from “grandstanders in our midst out to cavalierly besmirch their reputation and borrow their honor.”

Justice Secretary Leila de Lima, in response, defended the DOJ findings against Cimatu and other respondents, adding the Armed Forces hierarchy should even welcome this development.

“These are millions and millions of pesos involved in the irregularities. This should really be a fresh start, a clean slate for the current AFP leadership beginning of course with the AFP leadership under this administration,” she told reporters.

AFP: Active officers will face the music

As for Col. Donato, who is the country’s defense attaché to Timor Leste, the AFP said it will ask him to return to the country to answer the charges against him.

“As a matter of policy, if there are charges, we have to make these personnel available to give them time to answer the charges,” AFP spokesman Col. Arnulfo Burgos Jr. said.

Burgos said the AFP leadership has yet to issue an order on the three active officers included in the case.

The two other respondents who are still in the service are Brig. Gen. De Leon and Col. Devesa.

The AFP will decide if there is a need to remove De Leon and Devesa from their posts since their office is just based in Camp Aguinaldo in Quezon City.

He gave assurance that the three officers would not run away from the allegations against them.

“They are very senior officers. They believe in the due process of law. This will give them the chance to answer all the charges and prove their innocence,” Burgos said.

“We will remain supportive of any undertaking to ferret out the truth,” he added.

Rabusa claimed Donato had pocketed P130 million from AFP funds while Devesa and De Leon had amassed P153 million and P70 million, respectively.

Meanwhile, Morales’ practice of creating special panels or teams to handle the investigation of celebrated cases is earning her praises from her lawyers, investigators, and prosecutors.

Speaking on condition of anonymity, they said having investigators and prosecutors work together in building up cases before the same are lodged in court is an effective way of ensuring that strong cases are filed.

Prosecutors said it is also easier to present evidence in court if a prosecutor knew how the evidence was gathered, unlike before that those arguing in court rely on investigations that they were not even part of.

Morales has so far created special teams to handle the helicopter deal probe involving ranking officials of the Philippine National Police (PNP) and former first gentleman Jose Miguel Arroyo, the PNP rubber boat deal also involving police officials, and the national broadband network (NBN) deal which has already resulted in the filing of graft charges against former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. – With Edu Punay, Alexis Romero