Devanadera trial for graft, malversation starts next month

MANILA, Philippines - The trial of former justice secretary Agnes Devanadera, who was accused of pocketing public funds when she was chief of the Office of the Government Corporate Counsel (OGCC) five years ago, will finally start next month.

The Office of the Ombudsman had filed graft and malversation charges in June 2011 against Devanadera, former assistant government corporate counsel Jose Marie Capili, head executive assistant Rolando Faller, and accountant Divina Gracia Cruz.

Their arraignment has been set on March 15.

Devanadera posted P320,000 bail after the Sandiganbayan’s Fifth Division issued a warrant for her arrest last Monday afternoon.

Capili and Faller have also posted P160,000 bail each. Cruz has not yet posted bail and the warrant of arrest issued against her by the Sandiganbayan still stands.

The Ombudsman filed charges against Devanadera based on how she and Faller, with the help of Capili and Cruz, allegedly pocketed government money and received illegal OGCC allowances.

She and her staff allegedly conspired to allow Devanadera to receive P100,000 “for the purchase of reading materials to aid them in the discharge of their functions” in February 2007. Faller allegedly received P30,000.

Graft investigators learned that no such purchases were made and even found out that Devanadera deposited the check issued by the Land Bank of the Philippines to her personal account numbered 244-536369-6 on Feb. 13, 2007 while Faller allegedly encashed his check on the same date.

The respondents also allegedly allowed Devanadera to receive P500,000 and Faller P200,000 in attorneys’ fees from the special assessment fee of the Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) on Jan. 23, 2007 for the OGCC’s representation in a real estate foreclosure project.

Minus withholding taxes, the Ombudsman’s probers said the money was allegedly deposited in Devanadera’s bank account while Faller enchased his check.

Anti-graft investigators said both officials were not entitled to receive such payment according to the Administrative Code of 1987 and a 2004 Office Order of the OGCC.

Devanadera was able to delay the Sandiganbayan’s issuance of the arrest order against her for eight months by filing motions for reinvestigations, which the anti-graft court had entertained.

Government lawyers led by Assistant Special Prosecutors Joefferson Toribio and Lyn Dimayuga were finally able to block her efforts to have the cases reverted back to the Office of the Ombudsman by asking the Sandiganbayan to junk her pleading and set the arraignment.

In a 53-page ruling dated Feb. 23 but released only yesterday, Sandiganbayan Fifth Division chairman Roland Jurado, Associate Justices Alex Quiroz, and Oscar Herrera Jr. said it is not true that Devanadera and her co-accused were not accorded the full opportunity to answer the charges in a complete preliminary investigation.

The anti-graft court junked the motion of the accused for lack of merit, noting that the Ombudsman complied with and followed its Rules of Procedure even if it later amended parts of its complaint.

“Evidently, the Ombudsman complied with the procedures laid down in its Rules of Procedure to conclude that movants were satisfactorily provided a full and complete preliminary investigation,” the Sandiganbayan said.

“In sum, it cannot be said that the preliminary investigation conducted by the Ombudsman is incomplete or hastily done, without considering the evidence and arguments submitted by both parties,” the anti-graft court’s ruling read.