Ex-PCSO exec pleads not guilty in plunder case

MANILA, Philippines - Three days after he voluntarily surrendered to the Philippine National Police (PNP), former Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) board member Jose Taruc V pleaded not guilty to plunder charges before the Sandiganbayan yesterday.

He was arraigned before the anti-graft court’s First Division and was escorted back to Camp Crame where he asked and was allowed to be detained.

Taruc, one of former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s co-accused in the plunder case involving the alleged misuse of PCSO confidential and intelligence funds, denied any involvement in the alleged anomaly.

He surrendered to the PNP on Monday after he went to the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group-Detective Special Operations Unit.

His mugshots and fingerprints were taken and he was given a medical checkup before being presented to the Sandiganbayan.

Taruc was among those charged by the Office of the Ombudsman for plunder along with Arroyo; former PCSO general manager Rosario Uriarte; former general manager Sergio Valencia; former board members Manuel Morato, Raymundo Roquero and Ma. Fatima Valdez; budget and accounts manager Benigno Aguas; former Commission on Audit chairman Reynaldo Villar and auditor Nilda Plaras.

Uriarte and Valdez are at large while Valencia, Morato, and Roquero have been granted bail. Arroyo and Aguas were denied bail.

Taruc, through his lawyer, has also filed a petition for bail which the Sandiganbayan said is now submitted for ruling since prosecutors from the Office of the Ombudsman are adopting the same evidence they used in the bail hearings of the other respondents in the case against him.