4 AFP-RSBS execs face graft raps

The Ombudsman ordered yesterday the filing of graft and forgery charges against four officials of the Armed Forces of the Philippines’ Retirement and Separation Benefits Systems (AFP-RSBS) for the alleged anomalous acquisition of a huge tract of land in Tanauan, Batangas.

Ordered indicted in the Sandiganbayan were Brig. Gen. Jose Ramiscal, Capt. Perfecto Quilicot and lawyers Meinardo Enrique Bello and Manuel Satuito.

Ombudsman Simeon Marcelo found them liable for 148 counts of estafa through falsification of public documents and violation of the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act.

The charges stemmed from the recommendation made by the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee that found alleged anomalies in connection with the AFP-RSBS’ land acquisition in several places, among them in Calamba City in Laguna, Tanauan and Iloilo City.

Probers of the Office of the Ombudsman discovered that the AFP-RSBS secured two different sets of deeds of sale for the same property, exposing a "glaring disparity" in the land acquisition.

They noted that the total amount paid under the "bilateral deeds of sale" was P195.8 million, while the amount paid under the "unilateral deeds of sale" was just P28.2 million.

"The price difference is P167.6 million," said Ombudsman spokesman Ernesto Nocos, referring to the 148 parcels of land which the AFP-RSBS acquired.

Nocos said the charges are on top of those pending with the Sandiganbayan.

Marcelo rejected Ramiscal’s defense that he was not under the authority of the Ombudsman because the AFP-RSBS is a private entity.

In its report, the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee, however, said the funds of the AFP-RSBS are "trust funds."

"It was incumbent upon Ramiscal and other officials to exercise utmost prudence and use of the system’s funds only in a conservative, secure manner in order to protect the soldiers’ money," the report stated.

In August 2003, the Office of the Special Prosecutor, under Dennis Villa Ignacio, created a task force to consolidate the 239 cases filed against the military officials allegedly involved in the RSBS scam, following a Supreme Court ruling which ordered the revival of the cases.

Ramiscal, along with Julian Alzaga, lawyer Manuel Satuito, Elizabeth Liang and Jesus Garcia, was also accused of misappropriating more than P250 million in military retirement funds, for his personal use.

The Sandiganbayan earlier dismissed the cases, saying the AFP-RSBS is a private entity.

But the Supreme Court ruled that the AFP-RSBS is a "government entity" and military officers who misappropriate its funds should not go scot-free.

The Supreme Court reversed the Sandiganbayan’s May 2000 ruling which threw out the falsification and malversation cases against Ramiscal and several others.