Another set of graft charges filed vs GSIS execs
MARK MERUEÑAS, GMANews.TV
07/22/2008 | 04:00 PM
MANILA, Philippines – Another set of graft charges were filed Tuesday before the Office of the Ombudsman against 11 officials of the Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) including its president and general manager Winston Garcia.
A radio report on Tuesday said the Parents Teachers Coalition for Advancement (PTCA) filed charges against the GSIS officials for the “questionable" buying of Manila Electric Co (Meralco) shares as well as the slashing of the retirement pay of school teachers.
The respondents will be facing charges for violation of the Section 24 of Republic Act 8291, or the GSIS Act of 1997; and Article 239 of the Revised Penal Code, or Usurpation of Legislative Functions and Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act.
Aside from Garcia, also named as respondents in the graft case were GSIS Executive Vice President Olita Tiangco; GSIS Board of Trustees Chairman Bernardino Abes; and members Victoria Ablan, Jesse Andres, Mario Ramirez, Esperanza Ocampo, Reynaldo Palmiery, Alejandro Roces, Jesus Santos, and Nita Javier.
Garcia currently sits as the vice chairman of the GSIS board of trustees.
PTCA lawyer Alfred Velasco was quoted as saying that the GSIS lost P1.4 billion when it bought Meralco shares in January 2008 at P80.91 per share when a share only cost P70.
Velasco, a former GSIS employee union head, also alleged that the state pension fund was responsible for the decrease in the retirement pay received by public school teachers.
The report said the GSIS executives, except for Tiangco, were the same people named as respondents in separate graft cases filed by the same group earlier last week.
The first string of graft cases stemmed from the P1 billion in unassigned surplus from the Government Insurance Fund that the GSIS remitted to the Office of the President in December 2004.
Garcia had said the amount was a form of assistance to the Arroyo administration during the time the Philippines was slumped in a financial crisis in late 2004.
In their earlier complaint, Velasco said “Garcia is bleeding the GSIS dry with his extravagance and unconscionable dissipation of its financial resources."
The group had already asked Mrs Arroyo to demand the resignation of Garcia or dismiss him from his post.
The complainants had also urged Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez to inhibit from the cases, since she was the presidential legal counsel at the time the “illegal diversion" of GSIS funds was coursed to the Palace. - GMANews.TV
A radio report on Tuesday said the Parents Teachers Coalition for Advancement (PTCA) filed charges against the GSIS officials for the “questionable" buying of Manila Electric Co (Meralco) shares as well as the slashing of the retirement pay of school teachers.
The respondents will be facing charges for violation of the Section 24 of Republic Act 8291, or the GSIS Act of 1997; and Article 239 of the Revised Penal Code, or Usurpation of Legislative Functions and Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act.
Aside from Garcia, also named as respondents in the graft case were GSIS Executive Vice President Olita Tiangco; GSIS Board of Trustees Chairman Bernardino Abes; and members Victoria Ablan, Jesse Andres, Mario Ramirez, Esperanza Ocampo, Reynaldo Palmiery, Alejandro Roces, Jesus Santos, and Nita Javier.
Garcia currently sits as the vice chairman of the GSIS board of trustees.
PTCA lawyer Alfred Velasco was quoted as saying that the GSIS lost P1.4 billion when it bought Meralco shares in January 2008 at P80.91 per share when a share only cost P70.
Velasco, a former GSIS employee union head, also alleged that the state pension fund was responsible for the decrease in the retirement pay received by public school teachers.
The report said the GSIS executives, except for Tiangco, were the same people named as respondents in separate graft cases filed by the same group earlier last week.
The first string of graft cases stemmed from the P1 billion in unassigned surplus from the Government Insurance Fund that the GSIS remitted to the Office of the President in December 2004.
Garcia had said the amount was a form of assistance to the Arroyo administration during the time the Philippines was slumped in a financial crisis in late 2004.
In their earlier complaint, Velasco said “Garcia is bleeding the GSIS dry with his extravagance and unconscionable dissipation of its financial resources."
The group had already asked Mrs Arroyo to demand the resignation of Garcia or dismiss him from his post.
The complainants had also urged Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez to inhibit from the cases, since she was the presidential legal counsel at the time the “illegal diversion" of GSIS funds was coursed to the Palace. - GMANews.TV
