Government asks Sandigan to reject Garcia deal

MANILA, Philippines -  The government is urging the Sandiganbayan to reverse its decision approving the plea bargaining agreement between government prosecutors and former military comptroller Carlos Garcia.

Solicitor General Jose Anselmo Cadiz filed a 124-page consolidated motion for reconsideration yesterday, insisting the plea bargaining deal was void and had no legal basis.

The Office of the Solicitor General (OSG) also insisted on its right to intervene in the case, representing the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) as the aggrieved party.

The OSG maintained the plea bargaining deal was disadvantageous to the government, arguing the compromise agreement is not sanctioned by any law or jurisprudence.

Cadiz led other government lawyers in arguing the plea bargain deal “suffers from fatally grave infirmities” because it was approved without the consent of the AFP as the offended party and actually favors the accused.

On May 9, the Sandiganbayan’s Second Division approved the plea bargain deal between Garcia and the Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP).

Prior to its actual approval, the anti-graft court ordered Garcia to surrender P135.4-million worth of alleged ill-gotten wealth to the government

pursuant to the deal.

After compliance, the Sandiganbayan allowed him to plead guilty to the lesser crimes of direct bribery and facilitating money laundering on Dec. 16, 2010 and allowed him to post bail on the same day.

In approving the agreement five months later, the anti-graft court said the prosecution had failed to present enough evidence to convict the accused, also because of a defective complaint filed by the Office of the Ombudsman in 2005.

Presiding Justice and Sandiganbayan Second Division chairman Edilberto Sandoval and Associate Justices Samuel Martires and Teresita Diaz-Baldos said it had no other option but to approve the deal rather than acquit Garcia of the charge of plunder.

The OSG, however, disagreed with the argument, saying the court “virtually allowed the accused and his family to walk free.”

The OSG disagreed with the Sandiganbayan over the defective complaint filed against Garcia on the argument that it did not even name military contractors or suppliers from whom Garcia allegedly received gifts, commissions, and kickbacks in the total amount of P303 million.

The OSG said there is no need to name the contractors and suppliers because the charge sheet “is sufficient in form and substance” apart from the open admissions made by Garcia’s wife Clarita that her husband receives “gratitude money,” which is enough evidence to warrant a conviction.

The Sandiganbayan, in approving the plea bargain deal, said the letters and sworn statements of the wife made before US authorities cannot be used as evidence against the accused.

“It is an elementary rule in remedial law that evidentiary facts need not be alleged in the Information because these are matters of defense. Information need only state the ultimate facts; the reasons therefore could be proved during trial,” the OSG argued.

The OSG said the Sandiganbayan should have dismissed the charges against Garcia if the complaint was defective in the first place.

On the issue of intervention, the OSG said it has the legal personality to intervene in this case on behalf of the Republic of the Philippines as its statutory legal counsel.

The OSG said it does not seek to intervene in the case for the purpose of taking over or encroaching on the powers of the OSP but “only in connection with plea bargaining agreement.”

The OSG said the government suffered direct and actual injury from the acts committed by Garcia because public money was involved, which is separate and distinct from “theoretical injury” sustained by the Filipino people.

“All told, since the consent of the Republic of the Philippines, as the offended party, of the AFP, as the most closely offended agency of government, was not obtained in this case, the plea bargaining agreement between the OSP/Ombudsman and accused Garcia is void ab initio,” the OSG said.