THE former president of the Armed Forces Retirement and Separation Benefits System (RSBS), along with three others, meted out six to 10 years’ imprisonment in connection with the overpriced purchase of a piece of land.

Convicted were retired Brig. Gen. Jose Ramiscal Jr., and Meinrado Enrique A. Bello, Manuel Se Satuito and Perfecto Quilicot, all former executives of RSBS.

The last three, however, were acquitted of estafa.

The four were also ordered to pay P1,304,104.

However, the antigraft court immediately allowed them to post bail of P60,000 to P160,000 each after they expressed intention to appeal their case to the higher court.

In a separate decision, Ramiscal was found guilty of estafa through falsification of public documents.

The court found out that he signed the second deed of sale bearing the bigger amount.
“It was pointed out earlier that the board of directors directed the documentation to be rectified so as to reflect the actual price. Despite his knowledge of this directive, he chose not to make the necessary corrections on the documents where his signature was affixed,” the decision said.

In 2007 the Ombudsman filed the case in connection with the anomalous purchase of 148 parcels of land worth P195.85 million in Laguna, Batangas and Iloilo.

On November 26, 2009, the Sandiganbayan Third Division cleared the accused for insufficiecy of evidence in the graft charge over the purchase of a 1.22-hectare property in barangay Sulpoc, Tanauan City, that was allegedly overpriced by more than P2 million.

On October 11, 2010, the Sandiganbayan First Division said not enough evidence were presented to convict the accused on the alleged overpricing in the acquisition of residential lots in Tanauan City, Batangas, in 1997 owing to lack of evidence.

In the 31-page decision, the anti-graft court said they were responsible for the purchase of a 7,582 square-meter property in Tanauan City for P1.5 million on April 23, 1997, but the prosecution was able to prove that the actual price was only P227,460, which amount was received by the original owners Marianito Plaza, Glicerio Plaza and Petra Maunahan from the RSBS.

The prosecution also proved in court the discrepancy through two deeds of sale for the property bearing the two amounts.

“Of these two amounts, this court considers the P227,460 as the actual selling price by the land owners; it was on the basis of this sale that the title was transferred to RSBS,” the court said.

The defendants failed to convince the court, particularly the testimony of Plaza who claimed that he indeed received “more than a million” for the purchase.

“The oral testimony of Glicerio Plaza cannot override what is written on the documents,” the court said.

Aside from the first conviction, Ramiscal was sentenced to an additional imprisonment of between two and six years, bringing his total maximum prison term to 16 years. He was also ordered to separately pay a P5,000 fine.