Sandiganbayan junks graft case vs GSIS vice president

The Sandiganbayan Second Division has junked the graft case against an official of the Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) who allegedly was involved in a $9.3-million insurance mess in 1998. In an 18-page resolution, the graft court ordered the case of Fernando Campaña, the GSIS-London vice president who was earlier accused of issuing a questionable surety bond to Ecobel Land Inc., dismissed. The Office of the Ombudsman said the surety bond should not have been approved because of several violations. These include the absence of prior approval by the GSIS board, failure to pay cash premium payment, non-submission of Ecobel’s loan agreement with Philippine Veterans Bank, and the discovery that the title of a property offered by Ecobel as collateral was spurious. The Office of the Ombudsman said the surety bond was used by Ecobel to drawdown $9,307,000 from Bear and Stearns International Ltd. on Feb. 19, 1999. However, the Sandiganbayan said Campaña only became involved in Ecobel’s transaction on April 19, 1999 — more than two months after the cash drawdown — when he accepted Ecobel’s premium payment amounting to $330,004. A month later, he was formally notified by GSIS vice president for technical insurance group Alex Valencerina that the surety bond granted to Ecobel has been cancelled. The Second Division ruled that the time difference effectively disproved prosecution’s allegation that Campaña’s action gave a semblance of regularity to the transaction and enabled Ecobel to make the drawdown. “Campaña was only informed that the bond was cancelled in May 1999. How then could the accused be faulted for matters which he had no information?" the Sandiganbayan pointed out. —JE/VS, GMANews.TV