Graft raps already filed: No action yet

On Dec. 2, 2010, Bureau of Corrections chief Ernesto Diokno fired off a memo to superintendents Armando Miranda and Rachel Ruelo. The two headed Metro Manila’s problematic National Bilibid Prisons (NBP) and Women’s Correctional, respectively. Diokno wanted them to report “all movements of high-profile inmates from places of confinement to outside prison facilities.” Immediately, strictly, the “reasons for the movement and the period” were to be specified.

The memo was predictive. Odd goings-on in penitentiaries were an open secret. Rich inmates were being given VIP treatment, or released without serving full terms. Drug syndicates were operating from behind bars. (Three weeks ago a BuCor deputy was assassinated, reportedly on orders of sentenced narco-traders.) Two months into the job, Diokno sensed trouble from gut-feel as an ex-detective. He defined what he meant by high-profile inmate: “(1) a celebrity, (2) former ranking officer of any branch of government, (3) involved in celebrated case, (4) related to a highly influential family.”

Trouble did strike. NBI agents found and arrested last week a life-termer loitering in his old office miles from the NBP. Antonio Leviste falls under all four criteria of high-profile inmate. Once married to a senator, he was a former governor, had murdered his own aide, and comes from a prominent political clan. He was out of jail without permit for the nth time, by his own admission. Escorted by only one NBP guard, he was in civvies, had no restraints, and was freely mingling with former employees.

At once Diokno sacked Miranda and nine NBP officers. In treating Leviste lightly, they had broken basic rules on incarceration. Miranda above all had flouted a direct order to report “all movements of high-profile inmates.”

Diokno could become a casualty too. Critics of President Noynoy Aquino are asking for his head. It’s not for command responsibility; Miranda is the erring officer, and he already has been relieved. The issue is political, Diokno’s superior Justice Sec. Leila de Lima admits. She too wants him to resign, if only to save the President from further discomfiture. Diokno is perceived to be close to Aquino. As a police general in the ’80s, he defended the Presidency of Aquino’s mother Cory against coups d’état.

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A congressman is asking for a lifestyle check on Customs collector Lowell Medija of the Mindanao Container Terminal. Rep. Jose Benjamin Benaldo of nearby Cagayan de Oro City said Medija is living beyond his means. Allegedly Medija has amassed real estate and luxury vehicles from a lowly public officer’s pay. Formerly deputy at the Port of Davao, Medija was moved last year to the MCT in the sub-port of Tagoloan, Misamis Oriental.

Truth to tell, higher-ups already lifestyle-checked Medija. Having flunked, he is now facing graft charges before the Ombudsman. This is stated in a press release of the Department of Finance, dated Mar. 15, 2011, posted in the Malacañang-edited Official Gazette.

The DoF’s Revenue Integrity Protection Service did the probing of Medija. He supposedly acquired prime real estate in Davao City, including two mansions in a posh subdivision, a house in downtown, a hillside resort lot, and a 5.5-hectare fruit and poultry farm. On top of these he owns 16 vehicles, including SUVs, utility vans and trucks. All these tens of millions of pesos in assets, from an annual government pay of P512,000.

The report went on to state that Medija attempted to justify the acquisitions by declaring business interests in several companies. But from BIR records, four companies were registered only as trade names, and did not file income taxes. A fifth firm did files taxes in 2006 and 2007, but these were too small to substantiate Medija’s luxurious living. And while this firm existed before 2006, Medija included it in his Statement of Assets and Liabilities only in 2008. Aside from criminal charges, the RIPS filed for forfeiture of the unexplained wealth.

As with many cases against Customs officers, this is the outcome. The DoF report ended with the line, “If proven guilty (Medija) could be dismissed and perpetually barred from office.” To this day the Ombudsman has yet to suspend him pending evaluation of charges.

Meanwhile, vehicle smuggling goes on at the MCP, because a Customs officer and two assistants head the syndicate. Used SUVs, cars and motorcycles from Korea are their specialty. They have at least two politicos for protectors.

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Customs police chief Jose Yuchong-co takes issue with the report (Gotcha, 20 May 201) that the DoF was forced to reinstate him. Wrote he: “My reinstatement is a matter of right, and it is but ministerial on the part of the DoF to act on it. The reinstatement order was based on merits and evidence presented, consistent with the promise of then-Ombudsman Merceditas Gutier-rez to restore justice and finish pending cases before leaving her office.”

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It looks like Col. George Rabusa won’t meet the justice department’s deadline to file by today 32 sets of his plunder complaint against 23 active and retired generals and colonels. So far he is only halfway in reproducing the 5,000 pages of documentary evidence for each set. From donations he was able to buy 350 reams of bond paper and ink. The Association of Major Religious Superiors of the Philippines, led by Sr. Mary John Mananzan, contributed a heavy-duty photocopier, plus a “nun-power” complement of eight to bind the files. Rabusa’s charge sheet and the affidavits of four corroborators promise to be a legal blockbuster. But the preparation is in itself a dramatic story.

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