Garcia's sons paid only $100 fine

MANILA, Philippines - Two sons of former military comptroller Carlos Garcia paid no more than $100 when they were convicted of cash smuggling in November 2010.

The Attorney’s Office of the US Department of Justice in the Northern District of California ordered the Garcia siblings to pay only the assessment fees, documents obtained by The STAR showed.

Juan Paulo Garcia, 30, of Pontiac, Michigan and Ian Carl Garcia, 33, of Las Vegas, were convicted of cash smuggling on Nov. 29, 2010 after pleading guilty to the charges. They also spent about a hundred days in jail.

Senior US District Judge Marilyn Hall Patel declared that their fines were “waived” and did not order payment for “restitution.”

However, the $100,000 that was seized from them in December 2003 by US Customs personnel was forfeited in favor of the US government.

Garcia’s sons, who were indicted on Dec. 9, 2008 and arrested in February 2009, agreed to plead guilty to the cash smuggling charge in exchange for a sentence of “time served.”

Despite their release from prison, the US District Court of the Northern District of California is still monitoring their activities and whereabouts and barred them from leaving the state without permission until November 2012.

Meanwhile, Ombudsman Conchita Carpio-Morales is expected to defend during a hearing set on Monday at the Sandiganbayan her position paper to junk the controversial plea bargaining agreement that Garcia entered into with her predecessor Merceditas Gutierrez.