Members of panel that junked GMA case named

MANILA, Philippines - Former president and now Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has finally revealed the names of the original members of the preliminary investigation of the Office of the Ombudsman that allegedly junked the plunder complaint filed against her in relation to the alleged misuse of funds in the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) during her administration.

In a motion asking the Sandiganbayan to compel the release the “missing” report, Arroyo through lawyer Anacleto Diaz said Joaquin Salazar, Nellie Golez and Roque Damian Dator were among the members of the investigating body that recommended the dismissal of the case. Their recommendations were junked by Ombudsman Conchita Carpio-Morales.

The panel, whose findings were not submitted to the Sandiganbayan First Division when the PCSO plunder case was filed, was co-chaired by Deputy Special Prosecutor Cornelio Somido and Director Mary Susan Guillermo.

In her latest pleading, Arroyo reiterated an earlier request for the anti-graft court to order the Office of the Ombudsman to produce the so-called Somido Panel Report that supposedly recommended the filing of graft charges only.

Diaz, in his seven-page motion, said the first resolution of the panel of investigators that conducted the preliminary probe is material to the case. He said the report would be used as one of Arroyo’s evidence in the case pending before the anti-graft court.

Diaz stressed the defense has received information that the original investigation findings did not find any basis for the filing of a plunder case against his client.

“Accused GMA (Arroyo) intends to present the resolution of the panel as evidence for her defense, among others. She received information, and so alleges, that the findings of the panel are materially different from the findings and conclusions of the Ombudsman in her Review Joint Resolution in that unlike the latter, the panel found no sufficient evidence to support the crime of plunder charges under the present information,” he said.