The Sandiganbayan headquarters in Quezon City, a busy place nowadays with scores of graft cases pending before it. —GRIG MONTEGRANDE
MANILA — Just like former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, a recently resurfaced co-accused in the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office plunder case has asked the Sandiganbayan to dismiss the case for lack of evidence.
In her 32-page demurrer, former PCSO board member Ma. Fatima Valdes said the court’s First Division should also dismiss the case against her, just like it did in the case of fellow board members in April 2015.
She also cited the Supreme Court’s July 2016 decision overturning the Sandiganbayan’s denial of Arroyo’s demurrer, effectively junking the plunder case and paving the way for her freedom after four years of detention.
Valdes said prosecutors have chosen to adopt the previous plunder case proceedings entirely, adding “nothing more” in her case.
She argued that the ruling in favor of her co-accused should apply to her too under the doctrine of stare decisis, which dictates that a conclusion reached in one case should be applied to those that follow if the facts are substantially the same.
“The Prosecution has not produced any additional or specific evidence that is only applicable to accused Valdes that will support a conclusion that she should be treated differently as her co-accused…,” the demurrer read.
“Necessarily, the conclusions reached by the Honorable Court and the Supreme Court in the GMA Case should similarly be applied in resolving, and in granting, the demurrer to evidence of accused Valdes,” the motion added.
Valdes recalled that the Sandiganbayan and the Supreme Court found that the prosecution have failed to present evidence proving that plunder arose from the alleged misuse of P366-million in PCSO confidential intelligence funds.
For her trial, she noted that prosecutors have again presented former PCSO board member Ma. Aleta Tolentino as primary witness, even if she supposedly “pointedly admitted that she does not know where the alleged amassed money is!”
In her case, Valdes said representatives from PCSO’s human resources and the Commission on Audit did not testify to any matter specific to Valdes.
Valdes also pointed to a lack of evidence showing conspiracy on the part of the PCSO board members, saying former PCSO general manager Rosario Uriarte requested additional intelligence funds without agreement from board members including her.
She added that it was never established that resolutions by the PCSO board confirmed the approvals from the Office of the President of the requests for additional intelligence funds. In her defense, Valdes has described the PCSO board as a policy-making body that does not oversee or control the agency’s day-to-day activities.
Valdes, who has a history of heart ailments, was one of two co-accused in the PCSO funds case who have managed to evade arrest for the past four years, only to resurface in the recent months in the aftermath of Arroyo’s legal victory. The other is Uriarte, who has told the court she has been undergoing therapy for tumors.
The Sandiganbayan earlier granted the demurrers of Valdes’ fellow PCSO board officials Manuel Morato, Raymundo Roquero and Jose Taruc V, as well as former Commission on Audit head Reynaldo Villar. Meanwhile, the plunder charge against former PCSO board chairman Sergio Valencia was downgraded to malversation and is still pending with the court. SFM