Ex-DAR chief maintains innocence from graft, malversation charges

Former Agrarian Reform Secretary Roberto Pagdanganan has opposed the state prosecutors’ move to re-open the graft and malversation cases against him in connection with the alleged misuse of P30 million funds intended for the development of the coconut industry in Quezon province.

 

In a six-page opposition paper submitted to the Sandiganbayan Second Division, Pagdanganan, through his legal counsels, asked the anti-graft court to affirm its earlier ruling dismissing the cases against him and to consequently deny the prosecution’s motion for reconsideration.

 

“When the Constitution says that ‘all persons shall have a right to a speedy disposition of their cases before all judicial, quasi-judicial or administrative bodies’, the State assures its citizens that their cases will be resolved promptly. Thus, when the State, through its agents, violates such right, then there is no one to blame but the State itself,” Pagdanganan said.

 

In March of this year, the Second Division dismissed the graft and malversation cases against Pagdanganan and five of his co-accused, citing the inordinate delays in the Office of the Ombudsman’s investigation of the complaint against them.

 

Pagdanganan and five others were accused of diverting some P30 million DAR funds earmarked for the construction of a coconut processing plant in Quezon province to a private investment company.

 

The Second Division pointed out that while the complaint against Pagdanganan and his co-accused was received by the Office of the Ombudsman in July 2004, the anti-graft body took seven years to issue a resolution finding probable cause in July 2011.

 

The Sandiganbayan said the delay has violated the six accused’s right to speedy justice provided in the Constitution.

 

The prosecution, in a motion for reconsideration filed in April, however, argued that Pagdanganan never questioned the delay in Ombudsman’s preliminary investigation of the complaint until only after three years since the case was filed with Sandiganbayan in August 2011.

 

Pagdangan, in his opposition paper, belied the prosecution’s claim.

 

“It is not correct for the prosecution to state that the accused did not assert his right to a speedy trial when the information was filed (with the Sandiganbayan) on August 8, 2011,” Pagdanganan said.

 

“A simple reading of his ‘Omnibus Motion for Reinvestigation and Deferment of Issuance of Warrant of Arrest’ filed on August 26, 2011 will readily show that Mr. Pagdanganan already raised the issue of the violation of his right to a speedy trial.”

 

Pagdanganan also slammed as “shallow” the prosecution’s justification that the “workings of politics” has also affected the regular function of the Office of the Ombudsman during those years when the complaint was pending with the anti-graft body.

 

In its motion for reconsideration, the prosecution pointed out that then Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez was saddled with an impeachment complaint with the House of Representatives in connection to her approval of a plea bargaining deal with former military comptroller Carlos Garcia.

 

“The problem encountered by Ombudsman Gutierrez is a shallow justification…the resolution recommending the indictment of the accused was signed by Assistant Ombudsman Pelagio Apostol on June 5, 2006 and at the time, nothing appears to have prevented Ombudsman Gutierrez from performing her job as Ombudsman,” Pagdanganan said.

 

“The impeachment cases started only in 2009 and her turmoil obviously started in August 2009. From 2006, the Ombudsman had all the time to act on the said Resolution but she did not,” Pagdanganan added.

 

Finally, Pagdanganan maintained that he was not the one who signed the investment agreement with the Calauag Quezon Province Integrated Coconut Processing Plant Inc. (CQPICPP), the private stock firm where the P30-million check was deposited.

 

Pagdanganan also maintained that he has no participation in the creation and incorporation of CQPICPP and that he was not the one who signed the P30 million check. Pagdanganan pointed out that when the check was released on March 2, 2004, he was no longer the DAR secretary because on February 26 of that year, he has already taken oath as the Secretary of Tourism. — RSJ, GMA News