Saying he is “a victim of political persecution,” Manuel Morato, former Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) director, on Friday asked the Sandiganbayan to dismiss the plunder charges filed against him by the Ombudsman, citing lack of probable cause.
In a motion, Morato also asked the antigraft court’s First Division to recall the arrest warrant it issued against him.
In a text message, Morato told the Inquirer he was not hiding but he did not say if he was willing to turn himself in. (In radio reports Friday midnight, Morato was confirmed to be under the custody of the National Bureau of Investigation while confined at St. Luke’s Medical Center in Quezon City.—Inquirer.net editor).
Morato said he was “a victim, not a suspect” in the plunder case in which former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, five other ex-PCSO officials and two Commission on Audit (COA) officials are his coaccused.
“The Ombudsman has deprived me of my right to judicial process, thus depriving me of my constitutional rights. It’s like going through a kangaroo court,” he said.
Morato said there was no truth to the charge that the questioned PCSO intelligence funds ended up in his pocket. Neither does he have knowledge on whether or not the money ended up with any of the respondents, he added.
He said the supposed irregularities remain to be “conjectures, speculations, if not outright rumors.”
Morato claimed that the Ombudsman had charged him merely on allegations of conspiracy based on the PCSO board resolutions he signed, ratifying the order of then President Arroyo.
He said the Ombudsman “threw away legal doctrines, particularly pertaining to the requirement of direct and clear evidence of conspiracy, the presumption of the regularity of official conduct on the acts of the entire government machinery of the PCSO, like its accounting and legal departments.”
Morato argued that the control and power of the President in this case stretched to all executive offices—from the Cabinet secretary to the lowliest clerk.
“This plenary power of control by the President includes the power to act in lieu of such officers … The subordinates are bound to follow the acts of their superiors,” he said.
Morato emphasized he had nothing to do with the disbursement and implementation of PCSO intelligence funds.
The COA did not find anything wrong with the questioned funds either, he added.
“Even the so-called amassing, accumulating or acquiring wealth requirement in the crime of plunder was sustained by the Ombudsman on the mere findings that the then PCSO general manager (Rosario Uriarte) received the money involved, and the liquidation and COA’s audit of the funds were totally disregarded by the Ombudsman,” he said.
He added that he was not able to give his side during the Senate’s hearing into the alleged misuse of PCSO intelligence funds, which was conducted in favor of PCSO Chair Margarita Juico and her officials.
Morato alleged that the same confidential funds under question are being used by the current PCSO administration, without any sign of disapproval from the COA.
Morato also claimed he was not furnished a copy of the original case resolution reviewed by the Ombudsman.
Morato’s other coaccused are former PCSO Chair Sergio Valencia, ex-PCSO General Manager Rosario Uriarte and former Directors Jose Taruc V, Raymundo Roquero and Ma. Fatima Valdes as well as former COA Chair Reynaldo Villar and Nilda Palaras of the COA’s intelligence and confidential funds fraud audit unit.
The Ombudsman said the accused took undue advantage of their respective official positions and authorities to commit plunder.