Chavez asks SC to reverse Ombudsman ruling on Arroyo

Francisco Chavez. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines—Former Solicitor General Francisco Chavez has asked the Supreme Court to review, reverse and revise the Ombudsman’s decision dismissing the complaint he had filed against former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and other officials for the alleged misuse of hundreds of millions of pesos in Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (Owwa) funds.

In a petition for certiorari or review that he filed in the high court on Monday, Chavez sought the revision and reversal of the memorandum issued on Feb. 10 and supplemental memorandum issued on Sept. 25 by Ombudsman Conchita Carpio-Morales.

In the Feb. 10 memo, Morales disapproved the Department of Justice’s recommendation to file malversation charges against Arroyo, her Cabinet secretaries Alberto Romulo, Francisco Duque III and Patricia Sto. Tomas, and eight other officials in connection with the alleged transfer of P539,382,446 from the Owwa medicare fund to the Philippine Health Insurance Corp.

Complaint dismissed

The Sept. 25 memo, on the other hand, dismissed the complaint against Arroyo, Romulo, Duque, Sto. Tomas and the eight officials for the alleged use of $293,500 and P5 million in Owwa funds for various acquisitions and activities of Philippine diplomatic outposts abroad.

The DOJ had made its recommendation to the Ombudsman in January after it acted on the complaint filed by Chavez against Arroyo and the other officials.

In his petition, Chavez asked the Supreme Court to reconsider the Ombudsman’s findings “relative to the actual transfer of the amounts of P530,382,445 from the Owwa medicare fund to the PHIC and $350,000 from the Owwa capital fund to several labor attachés in the Middle East during the US-Iraq crisis.”

In his petition, Chavez charged that Arroyo, “in conspiracy with…her corespondents, orchestrated the diversion and/or misuse of the Owwa funds which by law are private funds being administered in trust by the government.”

“Both the DOJ panel of investigators and the Office of the Ombudsman committed a reversible error in not finding probable cause against respondents for various crimes charged in the complaint,” Chavez said, noting that, among other things, the Constitution or any law “does not authorize the president and/or the Owwa board of trustees to convert private funds to public funds.”

No direct benefit

They also do not have the power to commingle private funds with public funds, he added.

“The purchase of vehicles and the beautification of Philippine embassies in the Middle East do not redound to the direct and exclusive benefit of overseas Filipino workers,” he said.

Chavez asked the Supreme Court to declare probable cause to formally charge Arroyo and the other officials with violation of the Anti-Plunder Act, the Revised Penal Code, Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act, the Omnibus Election Code, the Code of Conduct and Ethical Standards for Public Officials and Employees, Article VI of the Constitution and qualified theft.

The other officials Chavez has sought charges against are former Owwa administrator Virgilio Angelo, former Labor Undersecretary and Owwa board member Manuel Imson, current Labor Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz (then administrator of the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration), and former Owwa board members Mina Figueroa, Caroline Rogge, Victorino Balais and Virginia Pasalo.