Sandigan dismisses graft raps vs Lastimoso

The Sandiganbayan has dismissed the graft charges against former Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Director General Roberto Lastimoso involving his alleged intervention in the release of a suspected drug trafficker in 1999.

In a 24-page resolution, the anti-graft court’s third division, chaired by Justice Anacleto Badoy, granted Lastimoso’s "demurer to evidence due to insufficiency of evidence."

The Ombudsman charged Lastimoso with graft in 1999 after he allegedly induced Superintendents Rolando Añonuevo and Francisco Villaroman to release suspected drug trafficker Rafael Madraso from police custody.

Añonuevo was then chief of the Southern Tagalog police intelligence office while Villaroman was chief of the PNP regional intelligence and investigation division.

Madraso was arrested by police operatives for supposedly selling two kilos of methamphetamine hydrochloride, or shabu.

But Justice Ricardo Ilarde, who penned the resolution, said the prosecution failed to prove that Lastimoso indeed "persuaded, induced or influenced" Añonuevo and Villaroman to release Madraso from police custody.

Añonuevo and Villaroman both claimed Lastimoso directly instructed them to assist Madraso in the criminal charges against him and facilitate his release.

Ilarde, however, said the testimony of the two belied their charges.

"Villaroman himself said that nobody had asked him to do anything wrong. In fact, he said that he did his job in a manner that there is no ground for anybody to go against him," Ilarde wrote in his ruling.

"The prosecution had not also shown what rules or regulations the accused had asked Villaroman to violate considering that they had not even talked to each other in connection with the Madraso case," Ilarde added.

Ilarde said that Villaroman also appeared to be an unwilling complainant against Lastimoso "for no wrong has been committed against him, he had no reason whatsoever to complain against the accused."

Villaroman recently figured in another scandal when former police undercover agent Mary "Rosebud" Ong charged him with being among the police officials who were directly involved in drug trafficking.

Ong had accused the former chief of the PNP Narcotics Group, Director Reynaldo Acop, Villaroman, Superintendent John Campos and several other police officials of reselling drugs they would seize from a Hong Kong triad.

Ong made the accusation during joint hearings of three Senate committees which are probing charges that Sen. Panfilo Lacson laundered the proceeds of criminal activities in banks abroad.

Acop virtually confirmed Ong’s allegations and even admitted before the Senate joint hearings that he deposited funds from a senator’s pork barrel allocation in his personal bank account.

Acop admitted he deposited at least P2.1 million from a senator’s pork barrel fund in his bank account so he could pay Ong who was not getting paid for her services to the NarcGroup.

Acop said the P2.1 million came from the countrywide development fund of Sen. Vicente Sotto III and was supposed to be for the anti-narcotics intelligence activities of the PNP.

The admission confirmed Ong’s claim that Acop issued to her a personal check for P2 million on Oct. 10, 1998 from the San Juan branch of the United Coconut Planters Bank.

He also admitted giving her P100,000 because Ong was losing money from her alleged "illegal gambling operation."

In previous hearings of the same Senate panel, Ong had testified that Acop issued the check as "show money" for a big drug deal with a Hong Kong-based triad which smuggles shabu into the country.

Ong claimed Acop and his lieutenants, including Villaroman, used her to make contact with triad bosses in Hong Kong and conclude big drug deals which the NarcGroup would bust.

However, Ong claimed that on several instances NarcGroup officials would "kidnap" for ransom the triad members who would make the deliveries and seize the drugs but resell them to local drug traffickers.