Sandiganbayan. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO
The Sandiganbayan has ordered the arrest of former Postmaster-General Ma. Josefina dela Cruz, after it found probable cause to head to trial over the alleged failure to remit an employee’s loan payments to the Government Service Insurance System.
READ: Ex-PhilPost chief charged for unremitted loan payment
In a six-page minute resolution, the court’s Seventh Division denied Dela Cruz’s motion to direct the Office of the Ombudsman to reinvestigate the case in lieu of her criminal indictment.
The court said it “may not interfere with the Ombudsman’s determination of probable cause,” as it could only determine if an arrest warrant should be issued pending her trial.
READ: Ombudsman: Ex-PhilPost chief has no basis for unremitted GSIS loan payments
“The judge does not act as an appellate court of the prosecutor and has no capacity to review the prosecutor’s determination of probable cause,” the resolution read.
The court was also convinced that there is probable cause to order her arrest based on the records. The Philippine Postal Corp. was found not to have timely remitted the amortization deducted from the salary of Zamboanga City employee Santos Jose Pamatong Jr.
It did not give weight right away to Dela Cruz’s justification that the nonremittance of the loan payment was caused by financial circumstances beyond her control. For the court, this was a matter of defense best threshed out in a full-blown trial on the merits of the case.
The court also rejected Dela Cruz’s argument that the Sandiganbayan could not take jurisdiction over the case because of the private complainant’s alleged failure to observe exhaustion of administrative remedies.
The resolution stressed that criminal charges are different from civil actions, where a complainant has to resort to all available remedies before heading to the courts.
“Jurisdiction over criminal cases lies with the courts… The doctrine of exhaustion of administrative remedies does not even come into play,” read the resolution.
The resolution was approved by Justices Alexander G. Gesmundo, Ma. Theresa Dolores C. Gomez-Estoesta and Zaldy V. Trespeses.
Dela Cruz faces 15 counts of violating Section 52(g) of the GSIS Act of 1997, alongside then-Western Mindanao area director Bernardito Gonzales (now Eastern Mindanao area director) and accountant Arlene Bendanillo.
The PHLPost officials missed 15 straight months of payment for the period of October 2011 to December 2012. Each month’s dues amounted to P2,345.23 or a total of P35,178.45.
To secure temporary liberty, the accused officials would have to post bail of P24,000 for each case or a total of P360,000. RAM