Disgraced RP general’s sons due in US court on March 5

CHICAGO – The two sons of retired Maj. Gen. Carlos Garcia, former comptroller of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), are scheduled to appear on March 5 before the US District Court for the Northern District of California in San Francisco, according to Jack Gillund, public affairs officer of the US Attorney’s Office of Northern California. Meanwhile, a spokesperson of the US District Court of Nevada in Las Vegas said Ian Carl Depakakibo Garcia was released on a $10,000 bond after a detention hearing last Friday, Feb. 27, before Magistrate Judge Robert J. Johnson. It could not be confirmed if Ian Carl’s brother, Juan Paulo Depakakibo Garcia, has also been released from detention after appearing before the US Magistrate Judge R. Steven Whalen last Thursday at the US District Court of Eastern Michigan in Detroit. The Garcia brothers were arrested last on Feb. 25 in their respective residential areas in Las Vegas and in Pontiac, Michigan after they were indicted on December 9, 2008 by a grand jury for allegedly smuggling $100,000 into the United States more than five years ago. They are facing a four-count indictment of bulk smuggling of more than $10,000, overt acts of furtherance of the conspiracy and forfeiture allegation. According to a four-page indictment, Ian Carl and Juan Paulo “conspired to transport and attempt to transport more than $10,000 in currency that was concealed on their persons and in their luggage" from Manila to San Francisco International Airport on or about Dec. 19, 2003 “with the intent to evade a currency reporting requirement." It added that Juan Paulo carried approximately $50,000 in US currency concealed in envelopes inside a jacket in his carry-on luggage aboard Philippine Air Lines (PAL). Ian Carl also carried approximately $50,000 in US currency, concealed in envelopes inside a pair of shoes in his carry-on luggage and in the inner pocket of his carry-on luggage aboard PAL. They both marked “No" boxes, indicating they were not carrying more than $10,000 in currency. They also “falsely told a customs inspector at the San Francisco International Airport that they were carrying a total of $1,000 in United States currency." If convicted, the Garcia brothers will forfeit in favor of the United States “the $100,000 in the Unites States currency seized" from them on Dec. 19, 2003. They are the sons of Carlos Garcia, who recently was found guilty in the Philippines of perjury for misdeclaration of his assets and liabilities in 2000. Ian Carl, Juan Paulo, their father and their mother are also facing plunder charges in the Philippines for allegedly amassing 303.27 million Philippine pesos (US$6 million) of ill-gotten wealth during former Garcia’s active military service. The maximum statutory penalty for each of the four counts in the indictment – conspiracy to commit bulk cash smuggling, bulk cash smuggling, failure to report the importation of monetary instruments and false statements to a government agency – are five years in prison, and a $250,000 fine. The penalty for failure to declare the importation of monetary instruments increases to 10 years in prison if a defendant is convicted of this charge in addition to one of the other three charges in the indictment. - Joseph Lariosa, GMANews.TV