EDITORIAL - On the road to acquittal

Retired Maj. Gen. Carlos Garcia is grinning, and he has reason to be. For the second time in a row, Garcia has been cleared of perjury in connection with accusations that he accumulated wealth illegally. Two years ago he was also acquitted of another perjury charge; he has one more to go. Will his acquittal on all three charges weaken the government’s case against him for plunder?

The former comptroller of the Armed Forces of the Philippines was arrested and indicted after the US government informed the Office of the Ombudsman in September 2004 that Garcia’s sons Ian Carl and Juan Paulo had been held at the San Francisco International Airport for attempting to bring in a total of $100,000 in cash. Records also showed that since 1993 until the two sons were apprehended, Garcia’s wife Clarita had transported to the United States a total of over $500,000 in several trips. Clarita submitted to US authorities a statement explaining that her sons could afford to travel with such large amounts of cash because her husband made a lot of money from his job as AFP comptroller.

For several months after the scandal erupted, the AFP tried to look the other way and nearly allowed Garcia to retire in peace with all his benefits intact. An investigation by then Ombudsman Simeon Marcelo led to Garcia’s arrest, detention and court-martial.

Today the whereabouts of Clarita and the two sons are unknown. In 2006, the Third Division of the Sandiganbayan cleared Garcia of perjury, saying there was insufficient evidence that he lied about his 1999 statement of assets, liabilities and net worth. Now, saying that he committed “an honest mistake,” the anti-graft court’s Second Division has also cleared him of charges that he failed to declare several vehicles in the name of Clarita in his SALN.

Garcia is the highest ranking military officer to be arrested and court-martialed for large-scale corruption. His arrest coincided with the implementation of reforms in the military’s procurement system to eradicate the corruption that has long been a source of restiveness and disgruntlement especially among junior officers. Is it a coincidence that Garcia is winning in court amid reports that military reforms are slowly being reversed? His acquittal on charges of plunder will speed up that reversal.