Supreme Court affirms indictment, trial of Grace Padaca

The Supreme Court has ordered the Sandiganbayan to proceed with the trial of former Isabela governor and elections commissioner Maria Gracia Cielo "Grace" Padaca for graft and malversation of public funds.

In a recent decision, the Court's Second Division affirmed Padaca's indictment by the Office of the Ombudsman in 2011 as the justices junked, for "lack of merit," her petition that challenged it.

Likewise dismissed was the petition filed by Servando Soriano and Dionisio Pine, consolidated with that of Padaca, which challenged the Sandiganbayan's refusal to recall the warrants of arrest issued against them in 2012.

"The Sandiganbayan, as trial court, is directed to commence/continue with the necessary proceedings in these cases with deliberate dispatch," said the decision penned by Associate Justice Andres Reyes, Jr.

The Court found "no cogent reason" to disturb the Ombudsman's finding of probable cause and the Sandiganbayan's decision denying Soriano and Pine's motion to avoid arrest and get rid of the case against them.

"The Court cannot and will not nullify the Ombudsman's factual findings on the sole ground that the complainant does not agree with such findings," the August 8 ruling said, quoting a 2016 decision. 

The case stemmed from the Ombudsman's finding that Padaca released P25 million to a private foundation for the management of Isabela's rice program "without due regard to the rules on government procurement and notwithstanding that the MOA (memorandum of agreement) was yet to be ratified by the SP (Sangguniang Panlalawigan)."

The Ombudsman found probable cause to believe that Padaca gave "unwarranted" favor to the Economic Development for Western Isabela and Northern Luzon Foundation, Inc. (EDWINLFI) in the discharge of her official function as governor.

Soriano, then municipal councilor, was chairman of EDWINLFI, while Pine was manager. The Ombudsman found they were accountable for their "collaborative actions" in the implementation of the provincial rice program.

Padaca's supposed giving of preference to the EDWINLFI, allegedly without several stipulations in the MOA such as the contract amount and the terms of repayment of the funds, "is as good as permitting, through abandonment or negligence," the organization "to take such funds," the Ombudsman said.

In its decision, the SC concurred with the Sandiganbayan that no grave abuse of discretion can be attributed to the Ombudsman because its probable cause finding "rests on substantial basis."

There was also no grave abuse of discretion committed by the Sandiganbayan in rejecting Soriano and Pine's motion to dismiss, because the motion challenged the propriety of the issuance of Informations—charges—against them, "a function that belongs to the Ombudsman," the SC said.

"The Sandiganbayan aptly limited its determination of probable cause to resolve whether arrest warrants should be issued against the petitioners. There is no allegation, much less proof, how this judicial determination was exercised in a capricious, whimsical or arbitrary manner," it ruled.

Justices Antonio Carpio, Diosdado Peralta, and Estela Perlas-Bernabe concurred with Reyes' ponencia.

Last year, the Sandiganbayan found Padaca guilty of four counts of violation of the Code of Conduct and Ethical Standards for Public Officials and Employees for failing to file her required Statements of Assets, Liabilties and Net Worth for 2007 to 2010, when she was Isabela governor.

She was fined P4,000. —KG, GMA News