AFP welcomes junking of plunder charges

MANILA, Philippines - The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) yesterday welcomed the dismissal of the plunder charges filed by former budget officer George Rabusa against three former military chiefs and other high-ranking officials.

The Office of the Ombudsman dismissed for lack of evidence the charges against former Armed Forces chiefs Diomedio Villanueva, Roy Cimatu and Efren Abu, along with 14 other top-ranking military officials and five civilians.

“We strictly adhere to the rule of law and we stand by our commitment to judicial processes. We trust our justice system and we welcome the decision of the Ombudsman,” AFP spokesman Col. Arnulfo Burgos said.

However, the government will review the decision of the Ombudsman in the dismissal of the charges, Malacañang said.

“We want to see the decision,” deputy presidential spokesperson Abigail Valte said.

Valte said they would like to find out how the Ombudsman arrived at such a decision.

She said the conclusion that there was no evidence and the actual pieces of evidence submitted in filing the charges would have to be checked.

The dismissal came as the Sandiganbayan upheld the plea bargaining agreement between the Office of the Ombudsman under Merceditas Gutierrez and retired Maj. Gen. Carlos Garcia, who was also implicated in this case but was cleared.

Aside from Garcia and the former military chiefs, the Ombudsman also said that there was not enough evidence to charge with plunder retired Maj. Gen. Jacinto Ligot, Maj. Gen. Hilario Atendido, Lt. Gen. Gaudencio Pangilinan, Maj. Gen. Epineto Logico, Capt. Kenneth Paglinawan, Col. Gilbert Gapay, Maj. Emerson Angulo, Maj. Gen. Ernesto Boac, Col. Robert Arevalo, Brig. Gen. Benito de Leon, Col. Cirilo Tomas Donato, Col. Roy Devesa, and Lt. Col. Ernesto Paranis.

The Ombudsman also did not find any probable cause against the Commission on Audit resident auditor, Divina Cabrera, and four other civilian employees of the AFP – Arturo Besana, Crisanto Gabriel, Manuel Warren, and Generoso del Castillo.

Valte said the Office of the Solicitor General and the Department of Justice are studying the next legal options they could take to protect public interest.

“And we want to see because remember, it’s not a decision on the merit. That (Garcia’s) was a plea bargain that was entered into by the Office of the Ombudsman under the former ombudsman,” she said.

In the decision involving other military generals signed by Ombudsman Conchita Carpio-Morales on July 2, 2012 but released only last April 4, the Ombudsman said the allegations of Rabusa – who made his explosive revelations in several appearances at the Senate in 2011 – of misappropriated funds were “unproven” and the result of “faulty and unreasonable computation.”  â€“ Jaime Laude, Aurea Calica, Rhodina Villanueva