Gloria Arroyo under probe anew for alleged PCSO plunder, Ombudsman says

The Supreme Court may have already dismissed the plunder case against former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo in connection with the alleged misuse of intelligence funds but she remains under investigation by the Ombudsman in connection with a similar complaint involving the same agency.

In a press briefing on Wednesday, Ombudsman Conchita Carpio-Morales confirmed that Arroyo is currently being investigated by her office for another plunder complaint still in connection with the alleged malversation of intelligence funds of the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office while she was president.

“This is under preliminary investigation, I can’t give you the amount but it covers years 2004 to 2007,” Morales said.

“Assuming that we can prove that there was ransacking of public fund, after the preliminary investigation and we believe probable cause lies, we will bring it to the court,” she added.

It was in June of this year when Mrs. Arroyo’s lawyer, Laurence Arroyo, told GMA News Online that the Ombudsman’s Field Investigation Office (FIO) filed another plunder and malversation complaint against the former president.

Filed before the Ombudsman central office, attorney Arroyo said the new complaint stemmed from the alleged misuse of the PCSO confidential intelligence fund (CIF) worth P57 million from 2004 to 2007.

Attorney Arroyo said they received a copy of the complaint on June 3 and was given until June 28 to file a counter-affidavit.

“I don’t know what motivated the FIO to file this complaint. But, in the words of Eliot Ness in the movie Untouchables, ‘We will not stop fighting until the fighting is done’,” Attorney Arroyo said in a text message to GMA News Online.

Case dismissed

In a vote of 11-4 the SC on Tuesday dismissed the plunder case before the Sandiganbayan against Arroyo and her co-accused, former Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) budget and accounts manager Benigno Aguas, due to the “insufficiency of evidence” of the prosecution team.

The dismissed case, which has been pending before the Sandiganbayan First Division since 2012, stemmed from the alleged misuse of P366-million worth of PCSO’s intelligence fund from 2008 to 2010.

In the same press conference, Morales maintained that the prosecution was able to present strong evidence against Mrs. Arroyo and Aguas that warrants their conviction.

Morales said her office will study the possibility of filing motion for reconsideration on the SC’s ruling.

Arroyo is also facing cases of graft and violation of the Code of Conduct for Public Officials in another division of the Sandiganbayan.

The cases are in connection with the alleged anomalous $329-million nation broadband deal with Chinese company Zhing Xing Telecommunications Equipment Inc. (ZTE) in 2007.

However, records from the Sandiganbayan Fourth Division, which is handling the cases showed that Arroyo had already posted bail on March 13, 2012.

Earlier this month, Arroyo and her co-accused in the cases, husband Jose Miguel Mike Arroyo and former Commission on Elections chairman Benjamin Abalos, filed their respective demurrer, seeking the dismissal of the cases based on the supposed weak evidence of the prosecution team. —NB, GMA News