'Euro general,' wife to face trial

MANILA, Philippines - Only one of the 12 former and active ranking police officials probed for their involvement in the so-called “euro generals” scandal in 2008 will face trial.

Acting Ombudsman Orlando Casimiro said the Office of the Ombudsman has ordered the filing of charges in court against former Philippine National Police (PNP) comptroller Eliseo de la Paz and his wife Maria Fe.

Casimiro said only the De la Paz couple were found to have violated Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) Circular No. 507, which penalizes any person who brings into or takes out of the Philippines foreign currency in excess of $10,000 and fails to declare the same in writing.

The couple were caught carrying 105,000 euros or P6.9 million in cash at the Shremetyevo International Airport in Moscow, Russia in October 2008.

He said the former PNP comptroller will also be charged with violating Article 237 of the Revised Penal Code which penalizes acts of “Prolonging the Performance of Duties and Powers.”

Preliminary investigation established that De la Paz did not declare the money he was carrying at the time he left the Philippines to join the PNP delegation to the 77th Interpol General Assembly in St. Petersburg, Russia.

Casimiro said a special panel of lawyers tasked by the Ombudsman to handle the Euro generals case also declared that “De la Paz willfully and unlawfully continued to exercise the powers and duties of his office as police director for comptrollership by attending the said general assembly in St. Petersburg despite knowing fully well that he reached the compulsory age of retirement of 56 on 9 October 2008.”

De la Paz accepted the designation as Special Disbursing Officer (SDO) of the PNP delegation as per Office Order No. 17-2008 dated Sept. 30, 2008 even though he was scheduled for retirement.

The Ombudsman dismissed the complaints against the other generals, saying “the disbursement and utilization of the funds in connection with the travel were found to be in order.”

“The Resolution by the Special Panel further established that the refund by the respondents of the full amount of P10 million used by the respondent PNP delegates was observed. Thus, the element of ‘undue injury’ (to government) is missing,” Rawnsle Lopez, Casimiro’s spokesperson said.

Lopez said the decision was also supported by the findings of the Commission on Audit.

The Ombudsman’s Field Investigation Office (FIO) previously recommended the filing of graft and other cases against 12 police officials, among them former PNP chief Avelino Razon Jr., former deputy director generals Emmanuel Carta and Ismael Rafanan and former directors Romeo Ricardo and Jaime Caringal.

Former director for human resources and doctrine development German Doria; director for operations Silverio Alarcio Jr.; former chief superintendents Samuel Rodriguez and Orlando Legaspi, who are currently designated as Special Disbursing Officer and director for Finance Service respectively; Senior Superintendent Tomas Rentoy III who is director for the Budget Division; and Superintendent Elmer Pelobello were also investigated.

Even the wife of former PNP chief Jesus Verzosa, Cynthia, who joined the delegation, was recommended charged with graft for allegedly using the name of the Office of the Deputy Chief for Administration to receive unwarranted benefits or privileges given to official delegates. Verzosa had been in office as PNP chief for only two weeks when the trip happened.

The FIO had said some of the respondents should even face charges of perjury, falsification of documents, grave misconduct, serious dishonesty, and other criminal and administrative cases.

It also recommended the filing of charges against Razon for approving the travel documents of the delegation, including those who were set for retirement.