Gwen to present 46 witnesses in Balili graft trial

AT least 46 witnesses will be presented by lawyers of suspended Cebu Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia for her defense in the criminal charges she is facing before the Sandiganbayan.

A pre-trial brief submitted by her counsel to the anti-graft court’s Second Division showed Garcia herself would be the first defense witness. The list included acting Governor Agnes Magpale.

Magpale was identified as a member of the Balili Properties Review Committee back when she was a member of the Provincial Board.

Garcia was indicted on two counts of graft and one malversation charge in connection with the alleged irregular purchase of the 24.92-hectare property known as the Balili Estate for P98.93 million in 2008.

The land turned out to be mostly underwater.  Garcia denied any  wrongdoing in the deal.

No date was set yet for the graft trial, but it is expected to take place after the May 13 election.

Defense lawyer Tranquil Salvador III said they would summon  other committee members to the witness stand.

They include former National Bureau of Investigation-Region 7 director Medardo de Lemos; PB member Peter John Calderon, former PB member Victor Maambong, former Provincial Engineer Aldofo Quiroga and Capitol lawyers Rory John Sepulveda and Manolette Dinsay.

(Except for former PB member John Bolo, who also faces graft charges, other PB members were not included in the graft charges filed by the Ombudsman with the Sandiganbayan, mainly because they did not ratify the Memorandum of Agreement on the Balili lot sale).

Also named in the pre-trial brief as potential witnesses for the graft trial were 12 other former and incumbent  PB members and all of Garcia’s co-accused in the alleged conspiracy in binding the provincial government in a “grossly disadvantageous transaction, causing it undue injury and unlawfully diverting P49,849,200 from the province’s Social Services fund allocations to partly pay for the land acquisition.

In a separate case over the Perdido Lex Foundation in the Sandiganbayan’s Third Division, the Office of the Ombudsman sought the denial of the motion for reinvestigation of Cebu PB Member Victor Maambong in connection with graft charges against him.

The prosecution asked the court to sustain the findings of probable cause in his case.

Maambong and other former Cebu provincial officials, including former vice governor John Gregory “Johnjohn” Osmeña Jr were charged with graft over the alleged anomalous release of P5 million to what turned out to be a fictitious foundation in 2002.

Last January the Sandiganbayan dimissed the graft charges against Osmeña Jr. for lack of evidence, noting that he appeared to be have been framed.

The Office of the Ombudsman in Visayas earlier found that Osmeña approved the release of money to Perdido Lex, despite it being non-existent. INQUIRER