Ex-PCSO official in GMA plunder case surrenders

MANILA, Philippines - A former board member of the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO), charged with plunder along with former President and now Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, surrendered yesterday.

Jose Taruc V went to the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group-Detective Special Operations Unit, which took his mugshots and fingerprints and gave him a medical checkup, CIDG spokesperson Chief Inspector Beth Jasmin said.

Jasmin said Taruc was immediately taken to Sandiganbayan, where the plunder case is being heard. It is up to the anti-graft court where Taruc will be detained, she said.

Arroyo was charged with plunder for the alleged misuse of P366 million in PCSO funds that went to “fictitious” expenses in the last two-and-a-half years of her term.

It was the first plunder case filed against Arroyo, who is detained at the Veterans Memorial Medical Center in Quezon City for electoral sabotage, a non-bailable offense like plunder.