Sandiganbayan denies Carlos Garcia’s bid to have warrants vs. kin recalled

The Sandiganbayan has junked the bid of former military comptroller Carlos Garcia to recall the warrants for the arrest of his wife and three children in connection with plunder and money laundering charges.

In a 13-page Resolution dated September 2, the anti-graft court said that Garcia's wife Clarita and their children Ian Carl, Juan Paulo and Timothy Mark were never part of the plea bargaining agreement which allowed the ex-military comptroller to plead guilty to lesser offenses of direct bribery  and facilitating money laundering.

“Movant’s wife and children… who are his co-accused, remain charged in both criminal cases. They are at-large and have not even been arraigned. Nowhere in the plea bargaining agreement …is there any declaration that they be dropped as accused in the two criminal cases,” the Sandiganbayan said.

"Hence the Court, in its Decision dated July  5 , 2022, ordered the arrest of the movant's  co-accused," it added.

In seeking to spare his family of the charges, Garcia invoked Section 3, Rule 121 of the Rules of Criminal Procedure which provides for errors of law or fact in the judgement  which requires no further proceedings.

Likewise, the Garcia patriarch also cited the Supreme Court ruling that upheld the legality of his plea bargaining agreement.

The anti-graft court, however, rejected these and maintained that the criminal charges filed against other members of the Garcia family were not defective.

"There was no admission made by the prosecution that the Informations in these cases are defective , and the Supreme Court never sustained any such admission in its Decision dated September 16, 2020 in G.R. Nos. 207340 and 207349 [affirming the legality of the plea bargain agreement," the Sandiganbayan said.

"The statements made by [state] prosecutor Joseph Capistrano to justify the prosecution's consent to the Plea Bargaining Agreement with movant was the alleged difficulty in securing and presenting evidence to prove the crime of plunder charged in Criminal Case No. SB-09-CRM-0194 .  That is what the Supreme Court took into consideration in its Decision dated September 16, 2020," it added.

In addition to junking Garcia's bid to spare his family from charges, the anti-graft court also denied Garcia’s plea to reduce or remove the prison sentence imposed against him and to cancel the over P400 million in fines.

The Sandiganbayan, however, granted his request for the removal of subsidiary imprisonment in case of insolvency in accordance with Article 39 of the Revised Penal Code that bars imposition of subsidiary imprisonment when the principal penalty imposed is higher than prison correccional.

The 13-page decision was penned by Associate Justice Oscar Herrera Jr. with Associate Justices Michael Frederick Musngi and Arthur Malabaguio concurring. —Llanesca T. Panti/NB, GMA News