MANILA, Philippines - The chief special prosecutor whom former president Benigno Aquino III sacked but was reinstated by the Court of Appeals (CA) will retire on March 11.
Aquino sacked Office of the Ombudsman chief special prosecutor Wendell Barreras-Sulit in 2013 for entering into a plea bargain agreement with retired military comptroller Maj. Gen. Carlos Garcia, who was facing a plunder charge.
The Judicial and Bar Council (JBC) yesterday announced that it would be entertaining applications and recommendations for the position to be vacated by Sulit.
The deadline for submission is on Feb. 28. The JBC shall deem the date of actual receipt of the applications and complete documentary requirements as the date of filing.
Garcia, a graduate of Philippine Military Academy class 1971, was charged with plunder for having unexplained wealth, including millions of pesos and a condominium at Trump Plaza in New York.
Under the supervision of former ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez, Sulit entered into a plea bargain agreement with Garcia.
Under the agreement, the plunder charge against Garcia was downgraded to direct bribery charges but Garcia should return P135,433,387.84 to the government.
On July 22, 2016, the CA Special 10th Division issued decision ordering the reinstatement of Sulit.
The CA ruled that Aquino and former executive secretary Paquito Ochoa Jr. made an error and usurped the authority of the courts when they dismissed Sulit.
The CA believed that the plea bargaining agreement was lawfully implemented because it was done under the supervision of Gutierrez.