A man found guilty of murdering his parents pleads for clemency on grounds that he is now an orphan. The reasoning of the Ombudsman prosecutors brings to mind that classic tale of chutzpah.
They maintain that the Armed Forces of the Philippines was not the offended party in Maj. Gen. Carlos Garcia’s P303-million plunder. So, they were under no obligation to get the AFP’s consent when they plea-bargained with Garcia on lesser offenses. Supposedly the military had not shown interest in the plunder case. Proof of this is the testimony of five AFP accountants and bookkeepers that the prosecutors produced in 2008 at the Sandiganbayan. The five, they say, contradicted the findings of their star witness, state auditor Heidi Mendoza, that P50 million of the P200-million UN fund disappeared.
From the prosecutors’ reasoning, the AFP blew its role as offended party. Thus it has no right to complain now, through the Solicitor General, as Garcia’s victim that lost P303 million. Why, its own civilian personnel had virtually cleared Garcia.
It matters not to the prosecutors that they themselves, very oddly, had searched for and prepped up five contradictory witnesses. Nor that they virtually weakened their own case by having five surprise witnesses oppose their lone star witness. Nor that good prosecutors should protect the credibility of their star witness.
The five witnesses are tainted. By their own admission, they were Garcia’s subordinates when he was the AFP comptroller in 2001-2004. They reported straight to Generoso del Castillo Jr., Garcia’s trusted chief accountant. Del Castillo was suspended and investigated when his boss’ financial shenanigans were exposed in 2004.
The Sol-Gen is careful to not say that the five belated witnesses were planted. He prefers to think that the Ombudsman prosecutors were surprised five times that their five witnesses were corroborating each other in contradicting Mendoza. But he says they should have instantly recalled the witnesses for redirect examination and had them declared hostile.
The prosecutors did no such thing. On the contrary, they are even now rejoicing that the five had contradicted their star witness.
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Why were parties bent on debunking the star witness? That’s for them to answer. What’s clear is that Mendoza sounded very sure of her findings, as shown in excerpts of her testimony on Dec. 3, 2008:
Prosecutor Capistrano: In your audit, submitted to the Ombudsman, what does your group speak of?
Mendoza: The report showed the different irregularities in the Armed Forces of the Philippines, mostly the practice of conversion.
Capistrano: By conversion, what do you mean?
Mendoza: Conversion means transactions appearing in documents, when in truth there were no actual transactions, but payments were still made, sir.
Capistrano: Please tell us particular acts of conversion?
Mendoza: Like, for catering, there was only one set of suppliers, official receipts were consequently issued, dates of checks happening in one day, no signatures on vouchers. Some transactions had no approval but checks still issued; certifications did not agree with provisions of the contract.
Capistrano: What else, if any, became basis of your findings of conversion in the AFP at the time Major General Carlos F. Garcia was comptroller?
Mendoza: The purchase of office supplies, conduct of trainings, meals, rentals, and most notable, the interagency funds amounting to Two Hundred Million (P200,000,000), the only voucher signed by Major General Carlos F. Garcia, sir.
Capistrano: Tell us what you mean by “most notable”?
Mendoza: The Two Hundred Million came from balances of the United Nation Funds. These are UN reimbursements to the Philippine government that no longer passed the Treasury, directly deposited in accounts maintained by the AFP. Unfortunately, the certification provided to the UN was also issued by the comptroller of the AFP, sir.
Capistrano: In simple language, Madam Witness, what is the meaning of that certification?
Mendoza: It reflects poor internal control, sir. Aside from that, only One Hundred Fifty Million (Php150,000,000.00) was documented to have been deposited in the UCPB account.
Capistrano: You said it is the only disbursement voucher signed by Major General Carlos F. Garcia?
Mendoza: Yes, sir, it is the only transaction: the transfer of the Two Hundred Million funds to the UCPB. The voucher supporting the check was the only voucher he signed as approving authority. That’s why we called him accountable, sir.
Capistrano: Madam Witness, what is your basis in saying it is the only disbursement voucher signed by Major General Carlos F. Garcia?
Mendoza: We reviewed the vouchers. Before I started my audit I was forewarned by no less than the Director of the Commission on Audit that there was no voucher signed. So I was aware there was no voucher signed in his capacity as approving authority. But when we conducted the examination we found one big transaction amounting to Two Hundred Million signed by Major General Carlos F. Garcia as comptroller, sir.
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In her audit report, Mendoza had identified one Edith I. Bondoc as manager of UCPB-Alfaro, to where the P200 million UN fund dubiously was moved from Land Bank. Too, a Col. Fernando Zabat was Garcia’s co-signatory in the P200-million check. P50 million of the P200 million went into a separate account, with passbook but no deposit slip. The prosecutors never called them as witnesses. Instead they called the AFP civilian employees to claim that the records only got mixed up.
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E-mail: jariusbondoc@workmail.com