Ex-Batangas governor Tony Leviste snubs arraignment for malversation

Former Batangas governor Jose Antonio “Tony” Leviste snubbed his arraignment for a malversation case at the Sandiganbayan on Wednesday.

At the scheduled arraignment before the Sandiganbayan Fifth Division, Leviste’s lawyer Dennis Manalo told the court that his client was already on his way from his residence in Lipa City, Batangas.

However, Leviste was still not at the Sandiganbayan by 10 a.m., prompting the court to cancel the proceeding.

Instead of ordering Leviste’s arrest, the court granted Manalo’s request to reset the date of the arraignment, noting his client's motion for judicial determination of probable cause with a prayer to dismiss the case that the court has yet to resolve.

“We humbly and pervently move that the accused be granted a second a chance to present his case that the Office of the Ombudsman was not able to prove probable cause [for the filing of the case],” Manalo said.

Fifth Division chairman Associate Justice Roland Jurado granted Manalo’s request and ordered Leviste’s arraignment to be reset to July 6 “on the condition that your client will no longer be late.”

Filed by the Ombudsman on May 24, the case stemmed from Leviste’s alleged failure to liquidate cash advances amounting to P151,385 for his supposed foreign travels during his term as chairman of the Philippine Retirement Authority (PRA) in 2003.

The Ombudsman said Leviste failed to liquidate the cash advances allegedly incurred from May to December 2003, despite repeated demands by the PRA and the Commission on Audit (COA).

In his 12-page omnibus motion filed before the Fifth Division on Monday, Leviste, through his legal counsel, asked the court to dismiss the case on the ground that the Ombudsman supposedly lacked evidence to establish probable cause to charge him in court.
 
“Accused Leviste stands before the Honorable Court professing that he was charged without the requisite evidence to establish probable cause,” Leviste’s motion read.

Leviste said the Ombudsman failed to present proof that he received the alleged cash advances. His camp further claimed that the signature of the claimant appearing in the disbursement voucher covering the cash advance for a trip to China on September 4 to 17, 2003, was not Leviste’s.

Leviste’s camp said the disbursement vouchers for cash advances for supposed travels to Japan from September 8 to October 2, 2003 and to Hong Kong and China from December 7 to 12, 2003, bore no signature. Thus, the defense said, these supposed cash advances can be considered as unclaimed.

“Therefore, there is no proof on record that he had custody of the said funds,” Leviste’s motion read.

With regard to his cash advance for a trip to Japan from October 24 to 29, 2003, Leviste claimed that this was already liquidated as proven by a letter provided by the PRA in 2014.
 
Meanwhile, the arraignment of Leviste’s co-accused, former PRA Financial Planning and Control Division chief Philip John Moreno, pushed through, in which he entered a “not guilty” plea.

Leviste was convicted of homicide in 2009 for killing his long-time aide Rafael de las Alas. He admitted to the crime, saying he shot De las Alas in self-defense. The Makati Regional Trial Court sentenced him to six to twelve years of imprisonment.

In December 2013, Leviste was granted parole after serving his sentence for six years. —KBK, GMA News