Sandiganbayan insists Garcia plea bargain deal legal

MANILA, Philippines - The Sandiganbayan on Wednesday said that the plea bargaining agreement entered into by the Office of the Ombudsman and former military comptroller Carlos Garcia in 2010 is legal.

In a 73-page ruling, the Sandiganbayan 2nd Division upheld its decision on May 2011, approving the plea bargain deal.

The Office of the Solicitor General (OSG) had asked the anti-graft court to declare as null the arraignment of Garcia to a lesser offense of direct bribery under Article 210 of the Revised Penal Code.

Read related article: OSG says Garcia plea 'null, void'

Garcia was charged with plunder in April 2005 for allegedly amassing ill-gotten wealth while he was comptroller of the Armed Forces of the Philippines.

Under the agreement, Garcia would be convicted of a lesser crime and will surrender more than P135.4 million of his alleged ill-gotten wealth.

“With all due respect, the arraignment of accused (former) Maj. Gen. Carlos F. Garcia for the lesser crime of direct bribery under Article 210 of the Revised Penal Code is null and void because the lesser crime of bribery is not necessarily included in the allegations in the Information charging him with plunder,” the OSG had said in its petition.

The OSG said Section 2, Rule 116 of the Revised Rules of Court presents the basic requirements upon which a plea bargaining agreement may be made.

He said an accused “may only plead guilty to a lesser offense as long as all the elements of the lesser offense constitute some of the essential elements or ingredients of the crime charged as alleged in the information.”

In Garcia’s case, Cadiz argued that the accused was allowed to plead guilty to the crime of direct bribery despite being originally charged with a capital offense of plunder in April 2005.

Cadiz argued this could not have been allowed because the complaint does not accuse Garcia of the lesser offenses that he later pleaded guilty to under the plea bargaining agreement.