De Lima: Arroyo not yet off the hook despite junking of graft case

Justice Secretary Leila de Lima

MANILA, Philippines—Justice Secretary Leila De Lima said former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo is not yet off the hook even if the Office of the Ombudsman dismissed the graft and bribery case against her.

On Wednesday, the Office of the Ombudsman dismissed the case against Arroyo, former Commission on Elections (COMELEC) Commissioner Virgilio Garcillano, former Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP) Director General and former Philippine Ports Authority (PPA) General Manger Alfonso Cusi, PPA Manager Efren Bollozos, former Department of Justice (DOJ) Secretary Agnes Devanadera, former Shariah Circuit Court Judge Nagamura Moner, and former First Gentleman Jose Miguel Arroyo for insufficiency of evidence.

The case is in connection with the 2004 elections in Lanao Del Norte, Lanao del Sur, Tawi-Tawi, Sultan Kudarat, and Cotabato City. The complaint was filed in August 2011 by Pacasirang Batidor, Ahmare Balt Lucman, Hadji Rashid Limbona and Hadji Abdullah D. Dalidig.

The complaint alleges, among other things, that the respondents, during the 2004 May elections in the identified Mindanao areas, provided transportation through the grant of 12 multi-cab vehicles and the use of a helicopter, and distributed envelopes containing money to unidentified election officers, in a plot to rig the poll results in the region.

“Double jeopardy does not apply in this case. I think the bases [in dismissing this case] was insufficiency of evidence and therefore no probable cause so it does not preclude the filing of another case if and when the proper case is filed when there is already sufficiency of evidence,” De Lima said.