Ombudsman orders raps filed vs ex-CIDG chief

MANILA, Philippines - The Office of the Ombudsman has ordered for the filing of charges against former Philippine National Police Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (PNP-CIDG) chief Nestorio Gualberto before the Sandiganbayan for the latter’s alleged failure to file his statements of assets and liabilities and net worth (SALN) for 1998 and 2000.

In an 18-page resolution, the Ombudsman said Gualberto – now the Bureau of Customs enforcement and security services chief – should be tried for violating Republic Act 6713, the Code of Conduct and Ethical Standards of Public Officials and Employees.

Gualberto, however, denied the allegations. He said he was Camp Crame’s camp commander in 1998 and he headed the CIDG in 2000.

He said he submitted yesterday a certificate authenticated by Senior Inspector Rogelio Javier, the “assistant director for personnel, stating that I have SALNs” to the Ombudsman.

“I have even filed my partial motion for reconsideration with the hope that the case against me would be dropped,” Gualberto said.

Gualberto was also investigated for not filing his SALNs for 1995, 1996, and 1997 but because the prescriptive period for which a person can be criminally charged for such offenses have already expired, the Ombudsman said it is filing cases for 1998 and 2000.

The case against him and four members of his family – Emma Louisa Gualberto, Maria Elizabeth Gualberto, Maria Carmelita Gualberto and Edgardo Gualberto – stemmed from a complaint filed by the Ombudsman’s field investigation office, headed by Maria Olivia Roxas.

Gualberto allegedly acquired several properties that he would not be able to afford on his salary as a police official. These include three real property in Barangay Nonong Castro in Lemery, Batangas and other properties supposedly owned by his daughters in the same province.

The Ombudsman said there is enough evidence to indict Gualberto for failing to submit his SALN for the years 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998 and 2000 based on a certification dated July 11, 2006 by Senior Police Officer 1 Anthony Agpalo and Superintendent Rolando Olpena that he failed to submit his SALNs for these years.

Graft probers said Superintendent Petronilo Delmendo Jr., chief of the PNP Storage Section and Directorate for Personnel and Records Management (DPRM) issued a certificate that they cannot authenticate Gualberto’s SALNs for the questioned years because they could not be located.

“The best evidence to prove the existence and veracity of the SALN is the fact that it is on file” with the PNP’s DPRM, which is the repository of all the SALNs of all officials and employees in the police force, the Ombudsman said.