Retired major General Carlos P. Garcia. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO…
The Department of National Defense has found no record to show that former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo received a copy of the December 2005 verdict handed down by a military court sentencing former military comptroller Carlos Garcia to two years’ imprisonment with hard labor.
According to defense department spokesperson Colonel Hernando Iriberri, an internal investigation last May had found that the official copy of the verdict had reached the offices of three former defense officials but could not establish if it had been received by Arroyo.
“We do not know if it reached her (Arroyo). We found no record that it was forwarded to the Office of the President. But the investigation is ongoing,” said Iriberri.
For the verdict to become final, it has to be affirmed by the President and Commander in Chief.
Iriberri could not say whether the former defense officials—defense secretary Norberto Gonzales, undersecretary for legislative affairs Arturo Lomibao and undersecretary for legal affairs Alberto Valenzuela—had deliberately sat on the report and withheld the approval of Garcia’s sentence.
A military tribunal on Dec. 2, 2005 found Garcia guilty of violating Articles of War 96 (conduct unbecoming an officer and gentleman) for not declaring his true assets in 2002 and 2003, and for holding permanent resident status in the United States while still in active service.
The tribunal ordered Garcia’s dishonorable discharge from the service and forfeited his retirement benefits.
The verdict was approved by then Armed Forces Chief Generoso Senga in April 2006.
The AFP said at the time that Garcia would have served out his sentence by October 2006 counting the time served while undergoing trial.
President Aquino only affirmed the sentence last week, ordering that Garcia be arrested and made to serve the full two years’ sentence in the New Bilibid Prison.
Iriberri said Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin had the records of Garcia’s case traced during the Senate hearing into military corruption following allegations made by former military budget officer George Rabusa.
According to Iriberri, the records showed that the AFP chief of staff had forwarded the verdict to the DND sometime in November 2006. Avelino Cruz was the defense secretary until he resigned on Nov. 30, 2006.
Arroyo stood as acting defense chief until January 2007. Then public works secretary Hermogenes Ebdane held the post for a few months in 2007, followed by Gilbert Teodoro and then by Norberto Gonzales.
Iriberri said the military would cooperate should the Senate call for an investigation into who was responsible not acting on the Garcia verdict.
Senator Franklin Drilon has urged that Gonzales and two former defense undersecretaries be charged for the alleged inaction.
But Iriberri said that while the report was traced to the office of Gonzales, Lomibao and Valenzuela “that doesn’t mean they are the ones at fault.”
Deputy presidential spokesperson Abigail Valte said the defense secretaries in the previous Arroyo administration should be asked to explain the Garcia verdict was not immediately transmitted to Malacañang. With a report from Norman Bordadora