Plea bargain

People who worked to prosecute retired Maj. Gen. Carlos Garcia for plunder are preparing to challenge the plea bargain he has struck in exchange for a lighter sentence.

Opponents of the deal have pointed out that plea bargaining is allowed only before the start of trial. Once an accused has entered his plea, he will have to stick to it and defend it in court until the decision is handed down, the opponents argue.

Garcia, the highest ranking military officer to be indicted for plunder, was supposed to be the big fish who wouldn’t get away. The state has an airtight case not only against him but also against his wife Clarita and their three sons for amassing wealth illegally.

And how enormous the wealth seems to be, if we are to believe published accounts of their children’s lifestyle in the United States, where the pampered kids are citizens. Never mind the head-to-toe designer outfit. But a unit in Trump Plaza on Park Avenue in Manhattan, said to have been bought for $765,000, and that’s for only one son, Timothy Mark?

How could an officer in what has to be the most poorly equipped military in Southeast Asia afford such luxury, and maintain the apartment even after the family’s assets were supposed to have been frozen because of the plunder case?

The US government apprehended and put behind bars last year Timothy Mark and his mom, whose statement submitted to US immigration and customs authorities in California led to the family’s disgrace. The sons were apprehended for failure to declare thousands of dollars they were bringing into the US. Asked to explain the source of the money, Clarita Depakakibo Garcia told US authorities that her husband received gifts from the people he did business with as military comptroller.

That was in the early years of the Arroyo administration, when the biggest fish being prosecuted for plunder was deposed President Joseph Estrada. We all know what happened to that case: successful prosecution but no punishment, although Erap believes his years in detention was punishment enough.

Now comes Garcia, who might not even be successfully prosecuted. To non-lawyers, plea bargaining is common enough and acceptable. And considering the weakness of the country’s judicial system, plea bargaining may be a palatable alternative to endless litigation.

But Garcia, like Erap, is a special case. Erap was the first president to be caught in the plunder net; Garcia the highest ranking in the military. Garcia’s case offers an opportunity for the state to show that corruption in the AFP does not pay, that even a two-star general can go to prison for breaking the law.

Garcia’s case gave credibility to the lament of the Oakwood mutineers in 2003 about corruption in the AFP, catapulting their most media-savvy leader to the Senate.

Unlike in several of the Marcos wealth cases, the case against the Garcias appears airtight. There’s no need to strike a deal.

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The former comptroller stands accused of accumulating some P300 million illegally. Graft investigators said they uncovered P303.27 million in bank deposits, a total of $967,215.99 in at least 10 banks, and withdrawals of P73 million. The government is seeking the extradition of Clarita and their three sons Timothy Mark, Ian Carl and Juan Carlo.

In 2003, Garcia declared total assets of P2.76 million in his statement of assets, liabilities and net worth. If you want a good laugh, read the SALNs filed by public officials in this country.

As part of his plea bargain, Garcia admitted to the lesser offenses of bribery and money laundering. Direct bribery carries a penalty of up to 12 years. He also agreed to surrender about half of the amount he is supposed to have amassed illegally.

The deal awaits approval by the Sandiganbayan’s Second Division. In what could be a portent of the ruling on that plea, the anti-graft court allowed Garcia to post bail of P60,000 last Friday. Before noon last Saturday, Garcia was again a free man.

The administration of “kung walang corrupt, walang mahirap” is now considering legal action against Special Prosecutor Wendell Barreras-Sulit of the Office of the Ombudsman for the plea bargain.

Sulit denies any irregularity, but if P-Noy’s legal advisers are correct, the prosecutor may soon be unemployed.

The military at least seems to appreciate the gravity of Garcia’s case and the need to set an example to other officers. In December 2005, Garcia was convicted by a military court, dishonorably dismissed from the service and therefore stripped of retirement benefits, and sentenced to two years of hard labor.

In his plea bargain and release on bail, the message is different.

We free plunderers in the military and send messianic coup plotters to high public office, where they enjoy access to a pork barrel of P200 million a year.

Garcia, a member of the Philippine Military Academy’s Class of 1971, might one day even join his “mistahs” in the Senate: Gregorio Honasan and Panfilo Lacson (if Ping can be found).

What will ordinary members of the Armed Forces of the Philippines think? It pays to stage a coup, even if it fails, as long as the TV cameras are rolling.

And it pays to accept bribes – the bigger, the better, because then you can afford expensive accountants and lawyers who can work out a plea bargain.