GMA co-accused in plunder case surfaces before Sandigan

MANILA, Philippines - One of three remaining respondents to a plunder case arising from the alleged misuse of Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) confidential and intelligence funds surfaced before the Sandiganbayan yesterday.

Former PCSO board member Ma. Fatima Valdes appeared before the anti-graft court’s First Division in a wheelchair during arraignment proceedings where she entered a not guilty plea.

Valdes was among those indicted by the Office of the Ombudsman four years ago as a co-accused of former president and now House Deputy Speaker and Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, who has been cleared of the charges.

Valdes, her lawyer Peter Bantilan explained, was in New Zealand when the Sandiganbayan issued a warrant for her arrest in the PCSO case.

She returned to the country two weeks ago and is now being allowed to remain under hospital arrest at the Makati Medical Center because of a heart illness.

Valdes, former PCSO general manager Rosario Uriarte and auditor Nilda Paras of the Commission on Audit (COA) are the only remaining respondents to the plunder case.

Uriarte and Paras are still at large.    

The rest of those indicted for allegedly stealing public funds – including Arroyo, who was under hospital arrest for almost four years – have been acquitted. 

Last July, the Supreme Court granted the former president’s demurer to evidence which argued that the case against her should be junked on grounds that the prosecutors of the Office of the Ombudsman failed to prove the accusations halfway through the trial.