Sandigan: Only P60.6 M of Garcia’s wealth ill-gotten

MANILA, Philippines - Only a fifth of former military comptroller Carlos Garcia’s alleged P303.2 million should be considered ill-gotten wealth, according to the Sandiganbayan decision upholding the plea bargaining agreement between him and the Office of the Ombudsman.

The Sandiganbayan Special Second Division chaired by Associate Justice Teresita Diaz-Baldos noted that Garcia and his family had five sources of income, including so-called “gratitude money” that the former military official received from government contractors.

“Considering that there is no evidence as to how much gratitude money was given to the accused, it would be fair to assume that the amount of P303 million equally came from these five sources of income. Hence, it must be equally divided by five to get a fair guesstimate of how much money is due to the government,” the anti-graft court’s decision released last Wednesday and penned by Associate Justice Samuel Martires read.

The ruling cited the letter and sworn statement of Garcia’s wife, Clarita, wherein she declared JT Mango Orchard Inc., IJT Katamnan Corp., a day care center and the salary of Garcia as their family’s sources of income.

“We cannot close our eyes to these four sources of income declared by Clarita Garcia because, as the records will show, it is this letter and sworn statement of Clarita Garcia relative to the gratitude money that was the basis of the Information for the crime of plunder and for which the prosecution and the public have relied heavily as the truth,” the Sandiganbayan said.

The ruling said ombudsman lawyers also established the existence of the corporations and companies mentioned by Garcia’s wife from which they supposedly earn more than $10,000 monthly.

“To say, therefore, that these four sources of income mentioned by Clarita are not true and the only one that should be believed and considered is her declaration regarding the gratitude money is a consciously selective manner of determining which portion of the letter we should accept as true, and which part must be regarded,” the decision read.

Bloated amount?

The ruling also discussed why the P303.2-million plunder case filed against Garcia carried a bloated amount.

The Sandiganbayan noted that the first forfeiture case filed by the Office of the Ombudsman against Garcia in October 2004 amounted to P143 million.

A second forfeiture case filed in July 2005 sought the recovery of P202 million. However, a supplemental resolution showed that the amount to be recovered was only P123.7 million.

The third forfeiture complaint amounted to P23.1 million.

“If the amounts in the first and second forfeiture cases will be added, the sum total would be P345,057,995.84, which is P41,785,989.85 more than the amount alleged in the plunder case,” the decision said.

“Which of these conflicting amounts that are alleged in the plunder and forfeiture cases is really correct?” the Sandiganbayan asked, noting that even the Office of the Ombudsman was unsure of its figures.

The anti-graft court said “a simple arithmetical computation” will show that total value of the assets of the accused and his family is only P269,347,532.34.”