Court clears ex-GSIS chief

THE SANDIGANBAYAN has reaffirmed the dismissal of the graft case against former Government Security Insurance System (GSIS) president Winston Garcia involving an allegedly anomalous eCard project with Union Bank of the Philippines.

In a resolution promulgated on July 4, the antigraft court Second Division said it denied the motion for reconsideration filed by the prosecution seeking to reverse the ruling of the court which had dismissed the graft charge due to the Ombudsman’s inordinate delay in filing the case.

The court said it sustained its March 17 ruling that there was inordinate delay  when the Ombudsman took 10 years to investigate the complaint before filing it in the Sandiganbayan on Sept. 2, 2015.

The court said the Ombudsman could not dissociate the preliminary investigation and fact-finding investigation if the aggregate time violated Garcia’s constitutional right to a speedy trial. Marc Jayson Cayabyab, Inquirer.net