De Lima: BI info shows Gen. Garcia still in PHL

Since he was granted temporary liberty two weekends ago, former Armed Forces of the Philippines comptroller Carlos Garcia has made himself inaccessible. Department of Justice Sec. Leila de Lima may not know the whereabouts of the former AFP general, who is out on bail despite facing the charge of plunder, but she made assurances on Tuesday that he has not left the country yet. Quoting Bureau of Immigrations officer-in-charge Rolando Ledesma, De Lima said records show that Garcia is still in the country. The bureau is an attached agency of the DOJ. "OIC Ledesma said that as far as our records would show, he [Garcia] has not left recently... If, for example, he left the country surreptitiously, the authorities would know that. I have no reports from the intelligence [community] about that," De Lima told reporters. Garcia is facing a plunder case at the Sandiganbayan for allegedly amassing more than P300 million when he was in charge of the disbursement of military funds as AFP comptroller. He is by far the highest-ranked military official undergoing trial by the anti-graft court for the crime of plunder, or graft and corruption on a massive scale. Plunder is a non-bailable offense but the Sandiganbayan allowed the former general to post a P60,000 bail and walk out of jail on December 18 after he pleaded guilty to the lighter offense of direct bribery. (See: Despite plunder raps, former general freed on P60,000 bail) Sandiganbayan’s move was the result of a plea bargain deal between Garcia’s lawyers and prosecutors of the Ombudsman, which has triggered an outcry of protest from Malacañang and some legal circles. On December 22, the Sandiganbayan deferred the scheduled promulgation of its decision on the plunder case against Garcia. (See: Sandiganbayan defers promulgation on Garcia case) Hold departure order The next day, on December 23, De Lima issued a hold departure order against Garcia because of a pending tax case against him at the DOJ. De Lima said that during the five-day interim period from December 18 to 23, it would have been almost impossible for Garcia to leave the country because the Sandiganbayan had also issued a hold departure order against him years ago. "It's not possible [for him to leave] during the few days in that time gap. Based on the BI's database, there is still that HDO issued by the Sandiganbayan. So it's not possible for him to leave the country," said De Lima.—Sophia M. Dedace/JV, GMANews.TV