The Sandiganbayan has dismissed the plunder case against a government auditor who was accused, along with former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, of illegally diverting intelligence funds of the the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO).
The antigraft court’s First Division granted the motion of Nilda Plaras, of the Commission on Audit (COA) confidential intelligence fund unit, to dismiss the charges against her.
Although Plaras never stood trial because the arrest warrant against her was never served, the court said the case had become moot after the Supreme Court issued a resolution on Aug. 23, 2016.
Fugitive next door
Unlike Arroyo and her other corespondents, Plaras never stood trial and even worked as the COA secretariat director in a compound just beside Sandiganbayan.
The dismissal of the case leaves former PCSO general manager Rosario Uriarte as the last respondent in the case over the alleged diversion of P366-million in PCSO intelligence funds.
The Sandiganbayan said the Supreme Court’s precedent-setting July 19, 2016, required prosecutors to pinpoint a “main plunderer” in the PCSO case.
Notably, the Supreme Court ruling said the failure to identify a “main plunderer” violated the right of “each accused” to be informed of the charges against them.
No more leg to stand on
Following this Supreme Court ruling, the Sandiganbayan said “the instant case against accused Plaras has no more leg to stand on, thus, warranting its dismissal.”
The resolution was signed by Associate Justices Efren N. de la Cruz, Geraldine Faith A. Econg and Edgardo M. Caldona.
Prior to the July 2016 ruling, the officials who stood trial were Arroyo, Reynaldo Villar, former PCSO budget and accounts manager Benigno Aguas and former PCSO board officials Manuel Morato, Raymundo Roquero and Jose Taruc V.
The cases of Morato, Roquero, Taruc and Villar were dismissed by the Sandiganbayan in April 2015 due to insufficiency of evidence, but the antigraft court denied the demurrers of Arroyo and Aguas, prompting them to elevate the case to the Supreme Court.
Uriarte, as well as PCSO board member Ma. Fatima Valdes, managed to evade arrest for four years before surrendering to authorities last year in the aftermath of Arroyo’s July 2016 Supreme Court victory.