State prosecutors on Thursday denied that there was inordinate delay which resulted in the dismissal of the graft case against former Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) President Winston Garcia involving an allegedly anomalous eCard project.
In its motion for reconsideration filed before the Sandiganbayan Second Division, the Office of the Special Prosecutor under the Office of the Ombudsman said the circumstances surrounding the six-year delay in its investigation would justify it and not make it “capricious” or “oppressive.”
The prosecution appealed the decision of the court to dismiss the case over the Ombudsman’s inordinate delay in finishing its investigation and filing the charge before the Sandiganbayan.
Inordinate delay
According to the graft charge filed by state prosecutors, Garcia in 2004 allegedly gave undue preference to Union Bank of the Philippines causing damages in government by awarding the GSIS eCard project to the said bank without complying with the requirements under the implementing rules and regulations of the Republic Act 9184 or the Government Procurement Reform law.
READ: Ex-GSIS execs face graft charges over 2004 deal
The GSIS eCard is an automated teller machine (ATM) card used to disburse funds to the members of the state pension fund, the court noted.
The anti-graft court said the complaint against Garcia was filed before the Ombudsman on April 1, 2005, however, the anti-corruption agency took 10 years to investigate the complaint before filing it before the Sandiganbayan on Sept. 2, 2015.
The Ombudsman investigators took six years or until Sept. 12, 2011 to docket the complaint as a regular case.
The court said the Ombudsman’s Field Investigation Office “slumber(ed) through those six years” as if waiting for the results of the congressional investigation.
“By way of peroration, the Court rules that on the ground alone of violation of speedy disposition of the case, his case ought to be dismissed outright,” the court said.
READ: Sandigan junks graft rap vs ex-GSIS chief Garcia
In its appeal, the prosecution said the preliminary investigation was delayed after the GSIS in April 2005 wrote to the Ombudsman requesting to defer action on the Commission on Audit (COA) report finding an anomaly in the GSIS E-card project pending its petition to nullify the said report.
The prosecution said the GSIS in July 2005 went up to the Court of Appeals to secure an injunction on the COA’s notice of disallowance, which the appellate court granted in Sept. 2005.
The COA later questioned the injunction before the Supreme Court in Aug. 2006. The Supreme Court required both parties to submit their legal positions only five years later.
The prosecution said Garcia and the other accused failed to mention the circumstances surrounding the delay to the Sandiganbayan.
“The proceedings before the Field Investigation Office (FIO) or its investigation [were] not attended by vexations, capricious and oppressive delays, but justified by the factual and surrounding circumstances,” the prosecution said.
The prosecution said the Ombudsman FIO docketed the complaint in Sept. 2011 or two months before the Supreme Court required the parties to answer to the COA petition. In 2013, the high court reversed the appellate court’s decision that granted an injunction on the notice of disallowance.
The prosecution added that the accused waived his right to speedy disposition of the case when he did not even invoke this right during the preliminary investigation.
It added that Garcia himself caused the delay in the Ombudsman investigation by filing his petitions before the Court of Appeals and appealing to defer action on the COA report.
“Accused did not come to this Honorable Court with clean hands. Accused, in bad faith, failed to inform the Honorable Court of their request for deferment with the Office of the Ombudsman and petition before the Court of Appeals. Accused, after asking for a delay/deferment on the resolution of the complaint against them, used the same time/delay as a ground for the dismissal of the instant case,” the prosecution said.
“The delay in this instant case was caused by the accused,” it added.
Probable cause
The prosecution maintained that there is probable cause to hold Garcia on trial.
The court found no probable cause to try Garcia for graft over allegations that he violated the procurement law by unlawfully resorting to limited source bidding, or selective bidding, in favor of Union Bank.
The court said none of the losing banks “raised a whimper” after the Union Bank was chosen.
The COA also did not issue a notice of disallowance on the project.
However, the prosecution said the COA did not issue a notice of disallowance precisely because the Court of Appeals issued a temporary restraining order and an injunction, which was only reversed by the Supreme Court in 2013.
The court found that the GSIS had invited its depository banks as well as private banks to be its partner for the e-card project such as Union Bank, Land Bank of the Philippines, Philippine National Bank, Development Bank of the Philippines, Bank of Philippine Islands and Equitable PCI Bank.
The GSIS Technical Committee chose the Union Bank as the most advantageous to the GSIS according to the results of its financial and technical evaluation.
The prosecution said the GSIS only sent letters of invitation to the banks to submit their respective proposals without specifying the approved budget for the contract.
This meant the GSIS gave the banks the freedom in setting the price for the bidding, which the prosecution said was “unacceptable” even in a limited source bidding.
“Thus, it cannot be said that there was substantial compliance with the requirements of the implementing rules and regulations of the RA 9184 as claimed by respondents,” the prosecution said.
Ombudsman had accused the GSIS of awarding the project to Union Bank “despite the fact the closing date for submission of bid proposals has not been closed and prior to the recommendation of the committee tasked to evaluate the proposals.”
On its website, the GSIS described the eCard project as its “most innovative government-issued identification card today.”
“This is because the eCard Plus is not just a GSIS membership ID Card, it is also a GSIS transactional card, disbursement card, ATM Card, VISA debit card, hospitalization discount card, medicine discount card, and tuition discount card, among others,” the website read.
Garcia, who was appointed GSIS President by former President and now Pampanga Representative Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, is now the president of the local party One Cebu and is the gubernatorial bet in the upcoming May elections against reelectionist Hilario Davide III.
The dismissal of Garcia’s graft case was promulgated just days before One Cebu broke up its alliance with Jejomar Binay’s United Nationalist Alliance, accusing UNA of disloyalty. RAM
READ: Garcias’ One Cebu Party dumps Binay