Retired police officer cleared of criminal charges

MANILA, Philippines - The Sandiganbayan has cleared Reynaldo Varilla, a retired deputy director general of the Philippine National Police, of criminal charges filed against him in connection with the illegal disposal of high-powered firearms in 2000. A single-page resolution promulgated last June 16 and penned by Associate Justice Napoleon Inoturan noted that none of the parties posed any objection to the request of Ombudsman prosecutors to junk the charges against the police official. "No comment/objection having been interposed thereto, the Manifestation with Omnibus Motion dated March 17, 2008 filed by the prosecution is hereby granted," the court declared. The same motion, however, recommended that a charge for illegal disposition of firearms be filed against eight people, namely: retired Brig. Gen. Percival M. Subala, former commandant of the Philippine Marine Corps; Col. Cesar A. dela Peña, then PMC Assistant Chief-of-Staff; Navy Capt. Teodoro M. Briones; SPO4 Richard B. Zules; and private individuals Edelbert C. Uybuco, Gerardo D. Vijandre, Manuel Ferdinand B. Trinidad and Michael R. Boregas. According to the prosecutors, the eight conspired in June 2000 to “unlawfully” and “criminally” dispose of the firearms when they made it appear that the Marine Corps purchased 72 units of Heckler and Koch MP5 cal. 9mm sub-machineguns from Trimark Ventures, headed by Trinidad, but eventually disposed these to “unauthorized persons.” Varilla, then chief of the PNP-Firearms and Explosives Division (FED), was accused of consipring with Trinidad and Boregas “to spirit out” the firearms and illegally dispose these. Office of the Special Prosecutor acting bureau directors Jesus A. Micael and John I. C. Turalba said Varilla was charged simply on the basis of his signature approving the release of the firearms. The prosecutors said that although Varilla's signature was in the paper works, a review of the evidence convinced them that he signed only because the documents submitted to him were already accomplished. "Nowhere in the records could we find any evidence through which we may deduce that P/Chief Supt. Varilla was a participant to the planning, preparation and perpetration of the alleged disposition of firearms," they pointed out. - GMANews.TV