Ex-COA chief seeks bail

MANILA, Philippines - Former audit chairman Reynaldo Villar petitioned the Sandiganbayan for bail yesterday following his arrest on Thursday.

The Sandiganbayan said he will be arraigned on plunder charges on April 30.

The Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) of the Philippine National Police (PNP) presented him to the anti-graft court yesterday.

Villar underwent the usual processing procedure, including having his fingerprints taken for the Sandiganbayan’s records.

He was also made to submit front, left and right side 2x2-inch photographs with his signature at the back of each and fill up a personal data sheet.

Villar is facing plunder charges for alleged involvement in the misuse of Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) confidential and intelligence funds along with former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and a handful of other respondents.

On the strength of a warrant from the Sandiganbayan, the CIDG arrested him at his house in No. 5 Washington Square, Merville Park, Parañaque City.

Villar is expected to be detained at the PNP custodial center at Camp Crame in Quezon City unless the anti-graft court’s First Division orders his transfer elsewhere.

Senior Superintendent Roberto Fajardo, CIDG National Capital Region chief, returned Villar to their headquarters after presenting him to the Sandiganbayan First Division.

CIDG chief Director Benjamin Magalong said they are hunting down two other accused: former PCSO general manager Rosario Uriarte and former board member Ma. Fatima Valdes.

“Continuous manhunt against the two other accused are being conducted,” he said.

In July 2011, Jaime Regalario, Risa Hontiveros-Baraquel and former Army general Danilo Lim filed plunder charges against Arroyo and several others before the Office of the Ombudsman for allegedly performing “various acts” to “surreptitiously divert” public funds, amounting to P366 million, from the PCSO’s operating budget “for personal gain.”

Villar headed the Commission on Audit (COA) when some P365.9 million in confidential and intelligence funds was allegedly misused by PCSO officials from 2008 to 2010 during the last three years of the Arroyo administration.

He went into hiding after the Office of the Ombudsman filed non-bailable plunder charges against him before the Sandiganbayan in July 2012.

Four of the respondents in the case – former PCSO board members Jose Taruc V, Manuel Morato, Raymundo Roquero and former general manager Sergio Valencia – have  been granted bail after they separately asked the anti-graft court to allow their temporary liberty while undergoing trial.

However, the Sandiganbayan has denied similar motions filed by Arroyo and former budget and accounts manager Benigno Aguas for alleged strong evidence of guilt on their part.  – Michael Punongbayan, Cecille Suerte Felipe