Morato on wheelchair; arraignment deferred anew

MANILA, Philippines - The arraignment of former Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) board member Manuel Morato before the Sandiganbayan was deferred again yesterday due to a petition for certiorari filed before the Supreme Court (SC).

Associate Justice Efren de la Cruz of the First Division granted the defense motion for postponement to give Morato time to secure a temporary restraining order. The arraignment was reset to Dec. 3.

The court, however, denied for lack of merit a request to allow Morato to pass by his house in Tomas Morato street in Quezon City to pray in his personal chapel.

Morato, among the respondents in the plunder case filed by the Office of the Ombudsman for the alleged misuse of P365.9 million in PCSO confidential and intelligence funds (CIF) from 2008 to 2010, appeared before the Sandiganbayan in a wheelchair. His cardiologist, Maria Adelaida Dy, assisted him.

Morato recently underwent triple heart bypass surgery and is under hospital arrest at the St. Luke’s Medical Center in Quezon City.

Dante Diaz, one of Morato’s counsels, informed the Sandiganbayan of the filing of the petition for certiorari, and asked for a temporary halt to the proceeding.

Like former President and now Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, Morato has questioned the filing of the charges against him, claiming grave abuse of discretion on the part of both the Office of the Ombudsman and the Sandiganbayan.

Diaz said their petition before the SC would become moot if the arraignment is allowed to proceed.

Meanwhile, PCSO records show that former PCSO general manager Rosario Uriarte withdrew more than P352.6 million from the agency’s CIF during the last three years of the Arroyo administration.

Uriarte received the bulk of the money through various disbursement vouchers.