HOURS after the Supreme Court (SC) released its decision dismissing the plunder case against former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, the Sandiganbayan’s First Division on Thursday issued a resolution ordering her immediate release from hospital arrest at the Veterans Memorial Medical Center (VMMC) in Quezon City.
The Sandiganbayan’s resolution reiterated the SC’s ruling dismissing the plunder case against Arroyo. Arroyo’s plunder case has been pending before the Sandiganbayan since 2012.
On Tuesday the Supreme Court dismissed the remaining plunder case filed against Arroyo, paving the way for her release from detention.
Arroyo was detained since 2012 at the VMMC following the filing of the plunder case, which stemmed from alleged misuse of P366-million intelligence funds of the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO).
“Accused Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and [her coaccused and former PCSO Budget and Accounts Manager] Benigno Aguas are hereby ordered released from the detention immediately, unless they are being held in custody for other reasons not related to this case,” the anti-graft court said. Aguas was detained at the Philippine National Police (PNP) Custodial Center in Camp Rafael Crame in Quezon City.
Following her acquittal from plunder charges, Arroyo has thanked the Duterte administration for allowing due process to take its course “totally unhampered.”
“It is my fervent hope that nobody else will suffer the persecution that had been levied on me through self-serving interpretation and implementation of the law. And that the disregard of truth for which I was made to suffer be dealt with accordingly at the soonest possible time,” Arroyo added in a statement.
Arroyo also expressed her heartfelt gratitude to the SC for finally stopping “the persecution [I] had unjustly
gone through for the last five years.”
In a 50-page decision written by Associate Justice Lucas Bersamin and concurred in by 10 other justices, the Court agreed with Arroyo and her coaccused Aguas that the Sandiganbayan committed grave abuse of discretion when it denied their respective petitions for demurrer to evidence seeking the dismissal of the P366-million plunder case filed against them for alleged misuse of the PCSO intelligence funds.
The Court held that the prosecution failed to prove that there was conspiracy between Arroyo and other persons implicated in the case and there was also no proof of amassing of ill-gotten wealth of at least P50 million against Arroyo and Aguas, which is corpus delicti of plunder.
It held that Arroyo merely affixed her “OK” on the request for the additional confidential intelligence funds (CIF) by her fellow accused, then PCSO General Manager Rosario Uriarte, who is still at large.
“There was also no evidence, testimonial or otherwise, presented by the prosecution showing even the remotest possibility that the CIFs of the PCSO had been diverted to either GMA or Aguas, or Uriarte,” the ruling stated.
The SC held such evidence of the prosecution was insufficient to prove that petitioner Arroyo had conspired to commit plunder because the affixing of “OK” could not be considered an “overt act” for purposes of plunder.
“The insistence of the prosecution is unwarranted. GMA’s approval of Uriarte’s requests for additional CIFs did not make her part of any design to raid the public treasury as the means to amass, accumulate and acquire ill-gotten wealth,” the SC explained.
“Absent the specific allegation in the information to that effect, and competent proof thereon, GMA’s approval of Uriarte’s requests, even if unqualified, could not make her part of any criminal conspiracy to commit plunder or any other crime considering that her approval was not by any means irregular or illegal,” it added.
Arroyo and several others have been accused by the Ombudsman of diverting PCSO operating funds to its CIF that could be accessed and withdrawn anytime with minimal restrictions, and transferring the proceeds drawn from the said fund for themselves, in the guise of fictitious expenditures. The SC also noted that it was apparent that the prosecution was relying on the doctrine of command responsibility to allege that Arroyo conspired with the accused to amass ill-gotten wealth.
However, the Court said such reliance “is misplaced,” “legally unacceptable,” and “incomprehensible.”
“But, this case involves neither a probe of GMA’s actions as the commander in chief of the Armed Forces of the Philippines, nor of a human-rights issue. As such, it is legally improper to impute the actions of Uriarte to GMA, in the absence of any conspiracy between them,” the SC added.
However, in her dissenting opinion, Chief Justice Maria Lourdes A. Sereno insisted that the prosecution managed to establish conspiracy among the accused.
“To my mind, the prosecution has successfully established the conspiracy scheme through the various irregularities in the CIF disbursement. These irregularities or red flags clearly spell a conspiracy to commit plunder when the amounts involved and the processes of requesting, approval and liquidating the amounts are holistically considered,” Sereno added.
The Chief Justice noted that the testimony of prosecution witness Aleta Tolentino had disclosed that there were several irregularities in the CIF requests and disbursements, which should have provided red flags.
The conspiracy, according to Sereno, was shown through her repeated approvals of Arroyo of addition CIF requests in the course of three years.
Associate Justice Marvic M.V.F. Leonen also dissented from the majority saying that Arroyo was a highly intelligent president who knew what she was doing.
“She knew that it was her duty to scrutinize if repeated requests for increases in these funds especially in ever-increasing amounts in the millions of pesos were done regularly and for legitimate ends,” Leonen said.
Justice Leonen also said the majority decision is premature considering that what was raised in the petition was the denial by the Sandiganbyan of the demurrer to the evidence and not a judgment by the anti-graft court after considering the evidence from both sides.
(With Joel San Juan)
Image credits: AP Photo/Bullit Marquez, File