Gen. Garcia’s assets under plea bargain turned over to govt

The Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP) revealed to the Sandiganbayan on Wednesday that pieces of property included in a plea bargaining agreement between the Office of the Ombudsman and former military comptroller and now retired Maj. Gen. Carlos Garcia have been formally turned over to the state.

In a six-page manifestation dated November 22, 2010, prosecution lawyers enumerated the status of the conveyance of Garcia’s select assets that were subjected to turnover under the plea bargaining agreement.

“All [pieces of real-estate property of Garcia] had already been transferred by the OSP to the Republic of the Philippines,” the OSP said in its manifestation.

The transfer certificates of title of the real-estate assets worth P21.27 million covered those found in Baguio City, Guimaras, Iloilo
and Batangas.

The United States Department of Justice also had assured the OSP that the US government “will forfeit the Trump Park condominium [unit worth P40.36 million] as well as two US bank accounts, which are currently under restraint in the US,” both of which are under deeds of conveyance.

The bank deposits of Garcia in four bank and loan accounts have also been placed under the state’s custody.

Banco de Oro already wrote the Sandiganbayan that it is prepared to deliver Garcia’s deposits to the anti-graft court as soon as a court order on the disgraced military officer’s case has been furnished to them.

Also Planters Development Bank said that it is “prepared to release” Garcia’s deposit after the Regional Trial Court of Manila resolved the freeze order that once preserved the accounts.

The Armed Forces and Police Savings and Loan Association Inc. is also expected to return to the state P10.02 million that is now “being held in trust in the name of the Republic.”

Meanwhile, the Bank of the Philippine Islands “would comply with the [May 4, 2010] Resolution of the [Sandiganbayan]” for the return of P51,499.34 and $56,225.16 in monies that Garcia has with the bank.

Land Bank of the Philippines will also return a total of P7.31 million and $759,083.34 to the state but is in need of a court order, which was also requested by other banks.

“It is on this regard that the prosecution filed on November 10, 2010 a Manifestation with Urgent Motion for Issuance of an Order directed to the banks and financial institutions to cause the issuance of manager’s check for the monies in the said accounts to be released to the [state],” the manifestation said.

Sandiganbayan has forwarded the May 4 and August 11, 2010 resolutions to the Land Transportation Office “but it required that ‘emission tests’ be made on the [4.4 million-worth] vehicles [of Garcia] before transfer.”

But “it is ‘physically impossible’ to comply with the ‘emission test’ because, except for the [Honda] CRV, all the engines of the vehicles are no longer in running condition and are incapable to produce emission,” the manifestation read.

Other vehicles subjected for conveyance include a Toyota Rav 4, Mitsubishi L300 and a Honda Civic.

And the deeds of conveyance for the corporate shares of stocks of Garcia worth P13,000 in IJT Caregiver Inc. and IJT Katamnan Corp. had already been executed, but it was found out that the corporations are “dormant.”

“The SEC [Securities and Exchange Commission] has no records of stockholders’ and Board of Directors’ meetings nor of Elections of Officers. Records show that the two companies made their last communication to the SEC in 2004,” the manifestation stated.

The SEC said that because of the corporations’ non-compliance with reportorial requirements and submission of financial statements, “the two companies, under the SEC Rules, may now be delisted from its roster of registered companies.”

When asked if the recovery of Garcia’s vehicles and corporate stocks were lopsided bargains for the state, OSP spokesman Jesus Micael said that it is not because the pieces of real property and bank accounts will be turned over to the state.

“Vehicles depreciate but the pieces of land … appreciate. The bank accounts even accumulate interest,” he added.

No ‘final say’ - Meanwhile, Sandiganbayan spokesman Renato Bocar said that while there was an initial approval of the plea bargain agreement—since Garcia was allowed to enter a guilty plea to lesser offenses and allowed to post bail—“the final act of approval would be sentencing.”

“If the prosecution has a compelling case to withdraw the initial approval of Sandiganbayan to the plea bargain, there is still a possibility to revert the state of things prior to the plea bargain,” he added.

“The justices are not concerned by the adverse public reaction against the plea bargaining agreement entered into between the Ombudsman and [retired] Gen. Garcia. The court will decide on the case based only on evidence, laws and jurisprudence—not by any other extraneous factors,” Bocar said.

Micael said that substantial compliance with the turnover of Garcia’s assets to the state means that the plea bargaining agreement was a go.

“The court will first decide on [Garcia’s direct bribery and facilitating money-laundering] cases. After that, [it] may probably issue a separate resolution, which will finally decide the fate of the plea bargaining agreement,” he added.

The plea bargaining agreement has come under fire from certain quarters because it covered about P130 million in allegedly ill-gotten wealth of Garcia when what the government wanted to recover amounts to at least P300 million.

Malacañang also on Wednesday denied that President Benigno Aquino 3rd was given wrong information on the plea bargaining agreement between the Ombudsman and Garcia.

“The President was not fed wrong information,” deputy spokesman Abigail Valte told reporters during a press briefing in Malacañang.

Valte was reacting to a claim of Special Prosecutor Wendell Barreras-Sulit that President Aquino was fed the wrong information on the plea bargaining deal.

During a briefing, she said that the information that the Palace presented to the media about the controversial plea bargaining deal was based on court records.

By John Constantine G. Cordon with reports From Cris G. Odronia & Llanesca T. Panti