MANILA, Philippines — Former president and current Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has been subpoenaed by the Department of Justice in connection with the P551-million plunder complaint filed against her regarding the alleged misuse of funds of the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration.
Arroyo was ordered by a panel of DOJ prosecutors led by Senior Deputy State Prosecutor Theodore Villanueva to appear during the preliminary investigation set on June 6. The case against Ms Arroyo was filed by former solicitor general Frank Chavez.
Aside from the former president, other respondents in the suit were also ordered by the DOJ panel to submit their counter-affidavits. They are former executive secretary and foreign affairs Alberto Romulo, former health secretary Francisco Duque III, and former OWWA administrator Virgilio Angelo.
Chavez, in his plunder complaint, alleged that OWWA funds were misused by Ms Arroyo and the three Cabinet officials in three ways: to finance the acquisition of several vehicles by several diplomatic posts in the Middle East; the humanitarian assistance to Iraq; and to enhance her 2004 presidential bid.
In all these transactions, Chavez claimed, Arroyo gave her imprimatur as evidenced by several memorandum orders addressed to Romulo, who made the requests for release of funds from OWWA, as well as in her executive orders for the transfer of some P530-million OWWA Medicare funds to the Philippine Health Insurance Corp., for alleged partisan purposes.
Chavez said the respondents were liable for violations of the Constitution, the plunder law (Republic Act No. 7080), the Revised Penal Code, the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act (RA 3019), the Omnibus Election Code and the Code of Conduct and Ethical Standards for Public Officials and Employees (RA 6713), as well as qualified theft.
He argued that the OWWA funds, which came from monetary contributions of overseas Filipino workers and held in trust by the government, may not be used for expenditures completely unrelated to the purposes for which the fund was set up.
Meanwhile, another DOJ panel has given Arroyo’s son, Ang Galing Partylist Rep. Mikey Arroyo until June 27 to submit his counter-affidavit regarding the P73.85 million tax evasion complaint filed against him and his wife Maria Angela by the Bureau of Internal Revenue.
The couple’s counsel, Ruy Rondain, told the DOJ panel headed by Senior Assistant State Prosecutor Lagrimas Agaran that Mikey and his wife were overseas and have scheduled their return to the country on June 17.
Under a new schedule agreed on by the parties, the couple must file their counter-affidavits on or before June 17, after which the BIR camp will have 10 days or until July 7 to reply. In turn, the Arroyo camp will have until July 15 to file their rejoinder. The BIR lawyer said he would also file a reply to the rejoinder also on July 15.
Agaran said that if the couple failed again to submit their counter-affidavits by June 27, the complaint would be considered submitted for resolution.
The bureau alleged that Mikey did not file his income tax return in 2005, 2008, and 2009 while his wife was declared as a one-time tax-payer in 2004.
The BIR said that based on Mikey’s Statements of Assets and Liabilities and Networth from 2002 to 2009, he and his wife brought from 2004 and 2009 millions of pesos worth of properties, including houses, vehicles, and shares of stock that were not reflected in their income tax returns.