Ombudsman summons 'euro generals'

MANILA, Philippines - Former interior secretary Ronaldo Puno and over a dozen other former and current officials of the Philippine National Police (PNP) led by retired national police chief Avelino Razon Jr. were ordered by the Ombudsman yesterday to appear again before a preliminary investigation for their alleged role in the so-called euro generals scandal almost four years ago.

The Office of the Ombudsman has directed them to submit new counter-affidavits to a new panel of prosecutors and graft investigators.

The panel headed by Director Susan Guillermo and Assistant Special Prosecutor Joefferson Toribio has been tasked to determine if criminal cases should be filed against the respondents even though they were earlier cleared.

Those ordered to answer the charges include former PNP comptroller Eliseo de la Paz; then Deputy Director Generals Emmanuel Carta and Ismael Rafanan as chiefs for Administration and Operations, respectively; former Director Jaime Caringal, then chief of PNP Region 9; Director for Human Resources and Doctrine Development German Doria; Director for Operations Silverio Alarcio Jr.; Chief Superintendents Samuel Rodriguez as special disbursing officer and Orlando Pestano as Director for Finance Service; Senior Superintendent Tomas Rentoy III who is Director for the Budget Division; Superintendent Elmer Pelobello; Directors Romeo Ricardo and Edgardo Acuna as chiefs for Plans and Personnel and Records Management; Senior Superintendent Joel Ma. Alvarez of the Philippine Center on Transnational Crime (PCTC) of the International Police (Interpol) in Manila.

The Ombudsman also directed Cynthia Verzosa and Maria Fe de la Paz to file their counter-affidavits. They are the spouses of the ranking police officials who joined the delegates to the Interpol assembly in St. Petersburg, Russia in October 2008.

Though traveling as a group, it was De la Paz and his wife who were actually barred from leaving the Moscow airport after they were caught carrying 105,000 euros (P6.9 million) in cash.

The new investigation being conducted by the Ombudsman was based on a 39-page memorandum by Toribio in January last year urging Ombudsman Conchita Carpio-Morales to consider reopening the probe.

Toribio said the first team of graft investigators may have “overlooked key pieces of evidence in this case and proceeded to absolve all of the respondents except the De la Paz spouses” who were the only ones indicted before the Sandiganbayan and only for violation of Bangko Sentral and Pilipinas (BSP) rules and regulations.

Apart from alleged violation of Section 3(e) of the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act, the Ombudsman’s Field Investigation Office (FIO) found enough reason to further investigate the respondents for alleged violation of Section 3(a) of the same law for “persuading, inducing or influencing another public officer to perform an act constituting a violation of rules and regulations.”

The preliminary investigation is expected to be finished within 60 days.

Ombudsman prosecutors convinced the Sandiganbayan’s Fifth Division to temporarily suspend the proceedings of the case already filed against the De la Paz couple to allow the Office of the Ombudsman to conduct a reinvestigation.