92 of 111 cases dismissed — PCGG

Ninety-two out of 111 criminal cases filed by the Presidential Commission on Good Government have been dismissed by the Office of the Ombudsman as of September last year, PCGG Commissioner Ruben Carranza Jr. said yesterday.

Carranza expressed alarm over the way the Ombudsman has been prosecuting the cases of the PCGG, the government agency tasked with recovering the ill-gotten wealth of the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos, his family and cronies.

Under the setup, PCGG criminal cases are handled by the Ombudsman while civil cases are handled by the Office of the Solicitor General (OSG).

Carranza earlier admitted that the PCGG has been less than satisfied with the way the Ombudsman has handled cases against the Marcoses and their cronies.

He noted that there have been instances when the Ombudsman would withdraw cases without consulting the PCGG.

Last week, the Sandiganbayan cleared former First Lady Imelda Marcos and three others of malversation charges because of the failure of prosecutors to pursue the case.

She had been accused of misappropriating some P98 million in funds as head of the Ministry of Human Settlements in 1984.

Carranza pointed out that when the accused had filed a demurer to have the case dismissed, the Ombudsman did not even oppose this.

"A demurer means that there is no evidence to convict the accused so the case must be dismissed ... Without going through the merits of the case, it’s disappointing that they (Ombudsman) did not even oppose," he said.

The Ombudsman scored a major victory a few years back when the anti-graft court convicted the former first lady of graft in connection with the leasing of a Philippine General Hospital property to the Light Rail Transit Authority.

The conviction, however, was reversed by the Supreme Court following an appeal by Mrs. Marcos.

Carranza also complained that unlike the OSG, the Ombudsman is not keen on allowing PCGG lawyers to take part in the prosecution of cases.

"There were instances when we were allowed to participate in the trial and instances when we were not. We hope the Ombudsman can have a uniform policy on this," he said.

Carranza said they will be meeting with Ombudsman Aniano Desierto next week to iron out several issues.