Supreme Court clears ex-President Arroyo in OWWA fund mess

A Supreme Court division has upheld the Office of the Ombudsman's dismissal of a criminal complaint against former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo over the supposed misuse of funds from the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA).

 

 

The funds sent to the Middle East were reported to have been used to finance "preparatory activities" of the Philippine post in Kuwait, the purchase of vehicles, and for the stockpiling of diplomatic posts in Lebanon, Jordan, Oman, Bahrain, Egypt, and Iran in support of the US-led war in Iraq.

 

“Unless tainted with grave abuse of discretion, the judgments and orders of the Ombudsman shall not be reversed, modified or otherwise interfered with by the Court,” said the high court division. The SC Third Division is chaired by Associate Justice Presbitero Velasco with members Associate Justices Diosdado Peralta, Roberto Abad, Jose Mendoza, and Marvic Leonen. Of the five, only Leonen is not an Arroyo appointee. The Supreme Court is currently dominated by 11 appointees of Mrs. Arroyo. It is headed, however, by Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno, an appointee of Mrs. Arroyo's successor, President Benigno Aquino III. Ombudsman decision

 

The SC division's decision upheld the Office of the Ombudsman's dismissal of the criminal charges filed by former Solicitor General Francisco Chavez against Arroyo.

 

In a Feb. 10, 2012 memorandum and Sept. 25, 2012 supplemental memorandum, the Ombudsman junked Chavez's plea for his "failure to show any reversible error committed by the Ombudsman."

 

In his 77-page petition for review filed with the SC last November, Chavez said there was "clear and compelling basis" for the high court to "review, reverse, and revise" the Office of the Ombudsman's decision approving a recommendation to dismiss the charges against Mrs. Arroyo.

 

Chavez asked the high court that "judgment be rendered finding probable cause to formally charge respondents, and recommending their prosecution and the filing of the appropriate criminal information against them for the criminal charges charged herein."

 

Chavez insisted Mrs. Arroyo should be charged for:

 

 

Aside from Mrs. Arroyo, those implicated in the alleged irregularity were:

 

 

Chavez said none of the Commission on Audit reports that the Ombudsman cited as bases for dismissing the plunder complaint was attached to the resolution "in violation of petitioner's right to due process."

 

 

Chavez said he also wanted to know whether the purchase of the vehicles and beautification of Philippine embassies in the Middle East "redound to the direct and exclusive benefit of overseas Filipino workers."

 

"By schemingly facilitating the diversion of the OWWA Fund for activities alien to its avowed purpose of directly and exclusively benefiting overseas Filipinos workers—particularly for utilizing hundreds of millions of the OWWA Fund to finance the re-election bid of [Mrs. Arroyo], respondents have fallen far short of the degree of fidelity to the trust reposed in them," Chavez said in his petition.

 

He added: "Respondents... aided and abetted one another and conspired in the pillage and pilferage of the OWWA funds."

 

Chavez noted that Duque, in his proposed Executive Order sent to Mrs. Arroyo on Nov. 20, 2002, had said 'the transfer will have a significant bearing in the 2004 elections."

 

Mrs. Arroyo won in the 2004 presidential elections, but her critics said the polls were marred by fraud.  Electoral sabotage  

The Department of Justice and the Commission on Elections have earlier found probable cause to charge Mrs. Arroyo and several other local poll officials in Mindanao for alleged poll fraud during the 2007 mid-term elections.

 

Poll sabotage cases have been slapped against Mrs. Arroyo before a Pasay City court. She is still under hospital arrest at the Veterans Memorial Medical Center in Quezon City due to complications she suffered from a spine disorder.

 

Chavez said Mrs. Arroyo "gravely abused the confidence reposed in her by the people by willfully permitting the illegal and fraudulent misuse, misappropriation, and malversation of the OWWA Fund."

 

Chavez said by enacting Executive Order No. 182, which authorized the transfer of the OWWA Funds to the PHIC, the respondents have "institutionalized" graft practices, even without consultation from major stockholders. — RSJ/KBK, GMA News