High-level DOJ team to handle plunder raps vs ex-AFP chiefs

Justice Secretary Leila de Lima has assigned no less than the government's highest-ranking prosecutor to handle the preliminary investigation into the plunder complaint against former members of the military's top brass. At a news briefing on Tuesday, De Lima announced she has appointed Prosecutor General Claro Arellano as head of the three-member panel that will conduct the inquiry on the allegations made by former Armed Forces of the Philippines budget officer Lt. Col. George Rabusa. "I have yet to sign the department order, but the panel will be chaired by the Prosecutor General himself, with two other assisting prosecutors of his choice. I have talked to the Prosecutor General and he agreed, and my instruction is to focus on that case expeditiously and dispose of that case on preliminary investigation," said De Lima. Justice secretaries rarely assign the Prosecutor General (formerly Chief State Prosecutor) in handling preliminary inquiries conducted by the Department of Justice. A preliminary investigation seeks to establish whether there is probable cause to file the appropriate charges before the proper courts. On Thursday last week, Rabusa filed his 86-page complaint-affidavit accusing the following of misusing public funds, thereby committing plunder:

• Former AFP chiefs of staff Diomedio Villanueva, Roy Cimatu, and Efren Abu;
• Former military comptrollers Jacinto Ligot and Carlos F. Garcia;
• Military officials Col. Carlo Tomas Donato, Col. Roy Devesa, Maj. Emerson Angulo, Maj. Gen. Hilario Atendido (retired), Brig. Gen. Benito de Leon, Lt. Col. Ernesto Paranis (retired), Capt. Keneth Paglinawan, Col. Gilbert Gapay, Col. Roberto Arevalo, Maj. Gen. Epineto Logico (retired); and
• Commission on Audit officials Generoso del Castillo and Divina Cabrera, who were assigned to the Intelligence Service of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (ISAFP).

Rabusa said the 17 respondents abused their positions by benefiting from the "conversion" of military funds for personal use. "Respondents took advantage of their official positions, authority, and influence to unjustly enrich themselves at the expense and to the damage and prejudice of the Filipino people and the Republic of the Philippines," he said. He added that plunder was evident because more than P50 million was allegedly misused. Republic Act No. 7080 (An Act Defining and Penalizing the Crime of Plunder) said that at least P50 million must be illegally acquired to establish plunder. He also alleged that the military's Operating Program and Budget (OPB) and Provisions for Command Directed Activities (PCDA), were created arbitrarily and that the money it collected was misaligned to accommodate the personal expenses of the AFP chief. Rabusa said throughout their stay in their respective positions, Villanueva received P227.4 million, Cimatu received P110 million, Abu received P38 million with Gapay, Ligot received P360 million, and Garcia received P368 million. The former AFP officers implicated in the alleged corruption mess have all denied pocketing millions from public funds. — LBG/RSJ, GMA News