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Arroyo, 4 others face plunder raps over Iloilo land sale


Yet another criminal complaint was filed against former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, this time a plunder case with four others for the allegedly anomalous sale of the old Iloilo airport property in 2007. In a five-page complaint submitted to the Department of Justice, private citizen Danilo Lihaylihay named Arroyo, Foreign Affairs Sec. Alberto Romulo, former Finance Sec. Margarito Teves, former Finance Privatization Council head John Sevilla, and Megaworld Corporation chair Andrew Tan as respondents in the complaint.
Lihaylihay alleged that when the government sold the property in October 2007 to Megaworld for P1.2 billion, the corresponding six-percent capital gains tax amounting to P72 million did not go to government coffers. "All respondents are guilty of the crime charged, through conspiracy and connivance," said Lihaylihay, who said he is the president of the Philippine Association of Revenue Informers Inc. and chief investigator of the Vanguard Anti-Graft Task Force Inc. Lifting of immunity Despite efforts to investigate criminal wrongdoing that involved Mrs. Arroyo during her presidency, no criminal charges against her had prospered due to presidential immunity from suit. However, a day after she stepped down from the presidency on June 30, the first criminal complaint was filed against Arroyo at the DOJ by party-list group Bayan Muna, in connection with the NBN-ZTE controversy. The group accused Arroyo of violating the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act, the Code of Conduct for Public Officials, and the Government Procurement Act. (See: Bayan Muna files 1st criminal raps vs Arroyo) GMANews.TV tried to contact Maria Elena Bautista-Horn, Arroyo's spokesperson, for comment but she could not be reached as of posting time. Teves also has not responded to GMANews.TV's calls.—Sophia Dedace/JV, GMANews.TV

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