Sandiganbayan sets trial of Ronnie Ricketts’ graft case in February

The Sandiganbayan will start hearing the graft case filed against Optical Media Board (OMB) chairman Ronnie Ricketts and his four co-accused in February next year.

At Thursday's pretrial of the case before the Fourth Division, both the prosecution and the defense teams submitted their respective pretrial brief, or the list of witnesses and documentary evidence they intend to present during the trial proper.

Following the receipt of both camps’ pretrial brief, division chairman Associate Justice Jose Hernandez announced the start of the trial proper on February 15 and 16, 2016.

The graft case against Ricketts and four of his co-accused stemmed from the alleged mishandling of confiscated pirated DVDs and VCDs in 2010.

Named as Ricketts' co-accused in the case were OMB executive director Cyrus Paul Valenzuela, OMB Enforcement and Inspection Division (EID) head Manuel Mangubat, EID investigation agent Joseph Arnaldo, and EID computer operator Glenn Perez.

Based on the complaint filed by the Office of the Ombudsman before the Sandiganbayan in June, a team from the OMB confiscated from Sky High Marketing Corporation building in Quezon City tons of pirated DVDs and VCDs on May 27, 2010.

However, in the afternoon of the same day, the confiscated items were "released and reloaded into the corporation's vehicle" instead of filing the appropriate charges against the company.

Ricketts and his co-accused had earlier pleaded “not guilty” to the case.

Among the witnesses the prosecution aims to present against the accused were the investigators from the Ombudsman Field Investigation Office (FIO) who conducted a probe on the incident, as well as officers from the OMB-EID, OMB Legal Division and OMB Administrative and Finance Division.

The prosecution would also present two security guards at the OMB building who were on duty when the release of the confiscated DVDs and VCDs allegedly took place, as well as some documents from the Sky High Marketing Corporation.

Meanwhile, among the witnesses the defense aims to present are Ricketts himself, together with five other officials from the OMB and the Philippine National Police (PNP) to prove that the seized items were destroyed.

Among the documentary evidence that the defense also aims to present  are Ricketts’ phone bill from April 28 to May 28, 2010 to prove that he did not call Perez and gave the go-signal for the release of the seized items contrary to the claim of the Ombudsman.

The prosecution also intends to present certifications from the PNP and the Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines (IPOPHL) attesting that the DVDs and VCDs confiscated from Sky High were among those destroyed at a ceremonial destruction held at the PNP Headquarters in Camp Crame during IPOPHL’s anniversary in June 2010.

Ricketts had earlier denied the allegations against him, insisting that he was already out of the OMB office when the incident occurred and was not informed about the pulling out of the confiscated items contrary to what his co-accused, Perez, claimed at the course of the Ombudsman investigation.

Ricketts and his four co-accused immediately left the courtroom after the pretrial proceedings refusing to grant an interview with the media. —KBK, GMA News