MANILA, Philippines - As administration senators took over major committees last year, the Senate thrived on investigations into alleged irregularities committed under the Arroyo administration.
Former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and former first gentleman Jose Miguel Arroyo were implicated in alleged anomalies that focused on the plea bargaining agreement with
former military comptroller Carlos Garcia and the purchase of secondhand helicopters by the Philippine National Police (PNP).
The investigation did not only result in the filing of charges against erring officials. It also led to a resignation of the Ombudsman and was believed to have triggered a suicide of a former military officer.
Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez resigned from her post before her impeachment trial could start while former Armed Forces chief of staff Angelo Reyes committed suicide at the height of the investigation into alleged corruption in the military.
Military corruption
The Senate Blue Ribbon committee started 2011 with hearings on allegations that the Office of the Ombudsman under Gutierrez railroaded the plea bargaining agreement with Garcia.
Administration ally Sen. Franklin Drilon questioned the deal, which allowed Garcia to enter a plea on a lesser offense and allowed him to post bail and return half of the P300 million in accounts and properties to the government.
Senate President Pro-Tempore Jinggoy Estrada brought a surprise witness - Col. George Rabusa - who linked at least three former chiefs of staff to the “pasalubong” and “pabaon” payola tradition in the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP).
Rabusa, former AFP budget officer, testified that he and former military comptroller Lt. Gen Jacinto Ligot hand-carried to Reyes the dollar equivalent of at least P50 million as his sendoff gift when he retired in 2001.
Rabusa said he also gave Reyes a P5-million monthly allowance and another P5 million for miscellaneous expenses even if Reyes was already out of the AFP.
Reyes denied Rabusa’s allegations and even filed a libel case against Estrada and Rabusa. The public was thus shocked when Reyes shot himself in front of his mother’s tomb at the Loyola Memorial Park in Marikina City.
Probe vs Ombudsman
In its committee report, the Senate Blue Ribbon committee said Gutierrez, Special Prosecutor Wendell Sulit, Deputy Special Prosecutor Robert Kallos, acting Deputy Special Prosecutor Jesus Micael, and assistant special prosecutors Jose Balmeo Jr. and Joseph Capistrano betrayed public trust by entering into a plea bargaining agreement with Garcia.
Blue Ribbon committee chairman Teofisto Guingona III also called for the Ombudsman’s resignation, even as he enjoined his colleagues in the House of Representatives to impeach Gutierrez.
The House did impeach Gutierrez but she resigned before the Senate could convene as an impeachment court.
Graft Raps vs Mike A, PNP officials filed
The Senate Blue Ribbon committee also found the former first gentleman and several members of the PNP liable for violation of the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act over the helicopter deal.
“The fact-finding committee of the Ombudsman has, in fact, affirmed our findings and has ruled that a violation of the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act was indeed committed,” Guingona said.
A special panel of the Office of the Ombudsman also recommended the filing of charges against Arroyo and company after it found sufficient evidence to prove that he conspired with PNP officials and other individuals for the P62.6-million fraudulent transaction to push through.
The committee also found former interior secretary Ronaldo Puno as equally liable along with Jesus Verzosa, former PNP chief, among other former PNP officials.
First in history
Last August saw the first resignation by a senator over an electoral protest. Sen. Juan Miguel Zubiri resigned amid allegations of fraud in the 2007 elections.
Zubiri, however, denied cheating to win, claiming he was also a victim of fraud. The Senate Electoral Tribunal (SET) found Sen. Aquilino Pimentel III the true winner of the 12th seat in the Senate after its recount showed him leading Zubiri by more than 258,000 votes.
Most important legislation
Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile said the passage of the P1.8-trillion General Appropriations Act for 2012 is the single most important bill passed this year.
After conducting marathon hearings for several months, the Senate was able to pass the budget in November, which paved the way for its transmittal to the President for signing middle of December.
The budget was described as “results-focused budget that is decidedly biased for the poor,” primarily because of the P568.6 billion for the social services sector or 31.3 percent of the total budget.
“Looking back, I can proudly say that our hard work for the past six months, especially the Senate’s very early passage of the national budget for 2012, is our best gift to our people,” Enrile said.
Behest loans
Between deliberations on the 2012 budget, the Senate committee on banks, financial institutions and currencies looked into the alleged grant of behest loans to businessman and former trade minister Roberto Ongpin.
From the purchase of shares of the Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP) in Philex Mining Corp., the probe jumped to the grant of $180-million loan to a $2-million company allegedly owned by Ongpin.
Osmeña had disclosed that DBP approved $90 million in loans in December 2008 despite the absence of a credit application and a loan applicant. The money was released three weeks after its approval to a foreign firm called Global Air Services (GAS), an Ongpin-affiliated company that was not licensed to do business in the Philippines.
Osmeña had said that GAS used the money to buy stocks and bonds related to the Metro Rail Transit Corp., including those held by two other companies, Presidio Capital Holdings Limited and two Ashmore funds, both linked to Ongpin.
Ongpin had since denied the allegations.
Senators as judges
But all the Senate investigations and even legislative work may have to take a backseat now that the Senate has convened itself as an impeachment court for the trial of Chief Justice Renato Corona.
The senators have assured the public that the strength of the evidence would be the primary basis for deciding the case.
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