Ex-PCSO official posts P1-M bail for plunder case

(Updated 11:25 a.m.) A former official of the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office posted a P1-million bail on Tuesday at the Sandiganbayan in connection with a P366-M plunder case filed against him.

Jose Taruc V, one of the co-accused of former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, posted the bail before the anti-graft court's First Division, his lawyer Boni Tacardon told GMA News Online.

Two weeks ago, Taruc V entered a not guilty plea to the said plunder case over the alleged misuse of PCSO's intelligence funds. 

Taruc V surrendered to the PNP Criminal Investigation and Detection Group after nearly three years on the run. He was earlier reported to have left the country on July 19, 2012, a week before the Sandiganbayan issued a hold departure order against him and the others accused of misusing the PCSO intelligence funds.

In October 2012, Taruc V was reported to have sent surrender feelers, according to Justice Secretary Leila de Lima.

The plunder complaint against Mrs. Arroyo and her co-accused was filed with the Ombudsman by Jaime Regalario, Risa Hontiveros-Baraquel and former Army general Danilo Lim on July 26, 2011. 

Co-accused former PCSO director Manuel Morato was arraigned in December 2012, weeks after he underwent a triple heart bypass at the St. Luke's Medical Center in Quezon City.

Co-accused former PCSO board chairman Sergio Valencia and former PCSO assistant general manager for finance Benigno Aguas, both surrendered in October 2012, and PCSO board member Raymundo Roquero, surrendered on January 18, 2013.

In June 2013, the court allowed Valencia, Morato and Roquero to post bail.

Meanwhile, Mrs. Arroyo remains under hospital arrest at the Veterans Memorial Medical Center in Quezon City.

Valencia and Morato were each ordered to post a P500,000-bail for their temporary release, while Roquero was ordered to post a higher bond, P700,000, for turning himself in four months after the issuance of the arrest warrant against him. Taruc V’s P1-million bail is the highest amount asked of those allowed to post bail.

At present, three other accused—former PCSO general manager Rosario Uriarte and Ma. Fatima A. S. Valdes, and former Commission on Audit chairman Reynaldo Villar—remain at large.

Former COA-Intelligence Fund Unit head Nilda Plaras, also a co-accused, secured an injunction order from the Supreme Court on the basis of her legal challenge on the validity of the indictment from the Office of the Ombudsman. —KG, GMA News