Sandigan dismisses forfeiture cases of ex- AFP comptroller

MANILA, Philippines — The Sandiganbayan has dismissed two civil forfeiture cases against former military comptroller Carlos Garcia in connection with his alleged ill-gotten wealth when he was in the military from 1993 to 2004.

In a resolution promulgated on Dec. 7, the court’s Fourth Division granted the Office of the Ombudsman’s motion to withdraw its two petitions for forfeiture of Garcia’s wealth.

In its motion, the ombudsman’s Office of the Special Prosecutor said that almost all of the properties it earlier sought to be forfeited in favor of the government have already been recovered under the plea bargain deal that Garcia entered with the ombudsman in 2010.

“Petitioner claims that ‘substantially all’ of the properties sought to be forfeited in these cases have already been recovered under the Plea Bargaining Agreement... and it does not have enough evidence to support the forfeiture of the remaining properties listed in the petitions,” the Fourth Division noted of the prosecution’s motion for withdrawal.

“Hence, it (prosecution) is withdrawing these cases to prevent further waste of the court’s time, effort and resources, knowing for a fact that at present, substantially all of the properties that may be forfeited had already been forfeited by the state,” the court added.

The Fourth Division said that as with the plea bargaining agreement, the withdrawal of wealth forfeiture petitions lies with the ombudsman. The court said it may only evaluate the validity of the motion and impose certain terms and conditions in dismissing the cases.

“Wherefore, in view of the foregoing, the Motion to Withdraw the Petition filed by the Republic of the Philippines, as represented by the Office of the Special Prosecutor, is hereby granted, and Civil Cases Nos. 0193 and 0196 are hereby dismissed,” the Fourth Division’s resolution read.

The Fourth Division, however, clarified that this is “without prejudice” to Garcia’s right to file counterclaim against the government, though it noted that “a review of the records reveals that no counterclaim has been made” by Garcia and other respondents in the forfeiture cases – his wife Clarita and their three sons, Carl, Juan Paulo and Timothy Mark.

In July last year, the Sandiganbayan Second Division sentenced Garcia to four up to eight years of imprisonment for direct bribery under Article 210 of the Revised Penal Code and four to six years of imprisonment for facilitating money laundering under Section 4 (b) of Republic Act 9160 or the Anti-Money Laundering Law or a total of eight to 14 years for both offenses.

Though it was not expressly stated in the decision, it appeared that Garcia would be considered to have already served the jail sentence as records showed that he remains in detention at the New Bilibid Prison in Muntinlupa City since 2011.

The Second Division, however, denied Garcia’s appeal to recall the arrest order against his wife and their three sons.

Garcia, together with his wife and children, was originally charged with plunder under Republic Act 7080 (Plunder Law) and money laundering under Section 4 (a) of RA 9160, in 2005 and 2009, respectively, in connection with his unlawful amassing of wealth.

The cases stemmed from Garcia’s alleged receipt of kickbacks, commissions and “shopping money or gratitude money” in several government projects or transactions when he was the deputy chief of staff for comptrollership of the Armed Forces of the Philippines with the rank of major general.

An investigation by the Senate Blue Ribbon panel also revealed that Garcia was allowed to pocket some P165 million in “pabaon” or send-off money before his retirement in 2004.

In February 2010, Garcia entered into a plea bargain deal with the Office of the Ombudsman under then ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez, in which it was agreed that Garcia will plead guilty to lesser and bailable offenses and pay the government some P135.4 million in exchange for the dropping of the heavier original cases.

The Sandiganbayan approved the deal in the same year, which paved way for Garcia to plead guilty to lesser offenses of direct bribery and facilitating money laundering on Dec. 16, 2010.

This prompted the government, through the Office of the Solicitor General under the term of the late president Benigno Aquino III, to challenge the validity of the deal before the Supreme Court (SC) through a petition for certiorari.

In its decision dated Sept. 16, 2020, the SC Third Division upheld the plea bargain deal and lifted the Temporary Restraining Order it earlier issued to the Sandiganbayan, which halted proceedings of the cases for several years.

In a press statement issued last September, the ombudsman said about P53.6 million in cash and forfeited land titles of Garcia has been turned over to the Bureau of Treasury.