DOJ Summons Gloria Arroyo Over Plunder

MANILA, Philippines - The Department of Justice (DOJ) has summoned former President and now Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and three of her former officials to appear before investigators on June 6 to answer charges of plunder involving over P550 million of the funds of the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA).

The DOJ panel conducting a preliminary investigation of the complaint filed last month by former solicitor general Frank Chavez issued subpoenas last Monday for Arroyo, former executive secretary Alberto Romulo, former health secretary Francisco Duque III and former OWWA administrator Virgilio Angelo.

Arroyo and the three officials must also answer charges of qualified theft, graft and corruption, and violations of Section 29 (3), Article VI of the Constitution, Articles 217 and 220 of the Revised Penal Code, and Section 261 of the Omnibus Election Code.

The DOJ panel is composed of Senior Assistant State Prosecutor Theodore Villanueva, Senior Assistant State Prosecutor Lilian Doris Alejo and Senior Assistant State Prosecutor Elizabeth Intos-Santos.

Arroyo and the others were ordered to appear before the DOJ to submit their counter-affidavits.

“Also, there are pieces of evidence submitted which shall be made available for the examination by you and your counsel at the same office during working hours or any working day before the date set above for you to submit your counter-affidavit,” the subpoena read.

Chavez has reiterated his claim in his previous complaint filed with the Office of the Ombudsman in July 2004 that Mrs. Arroyo and her officials “schemingly facilitated the diversion of the OWWA fund for activities alien to its avowed purpose of directly and exclusively benefiting OFWs – particularly, for utilizing hundreds of millions of the OWWA fund to finance the re-election bid of respondent GMA (Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo).”

“Respondent GMA, in conspiracy with, and with the indispensable complicity of, her co-respondents herein, purposely and systematically orchestrated the diversion and/or misuse of the OWWA fund, financing questionable acquisitions by several Philippine diplomatic posts in the Middle East, the humanitarian assistance to Iraq, and re-election bid of respondent GMA – all of which do not contribute, and could never have contributed, to the direct and exclusive benefit of the Filipino overseas workers,” Chavez alleged.

As evidence, Chavez submitted a copy of Executive Order No. 182 issued by Mrs. Arroyo on Feb.14, 2003 transferring OWWA Medicare Funds worth P530,382,446 to the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. then headed by Duque.

Chavez recalled that Mrs. Arroyo had distributed millions of health cards from the PHIC prior to the 2004 polls.

He also submitted a memorandum signed by Romulo on Mar. 12, 2003 seeking release of $293,500 purportedly for “preparatory activities of Philippine post in Kuwait and purchase of vehicles and stockpiling of posts in Lebanon, Jordan, Oman, Bahrain, Egypt and Iran – in support of the US-led war in Iraq.”

The document had a marginal note from Mrs. Arroyo which read “OK charge to OWWA.” It also showed that another $53,000 had already been taken from OWWA.

Four months later, Angelo issued a memorandum shelving the general financial assistance program of OWWA and stopping the processing of claims by overseas Filipino workers under the program worth P16,510,000. Chavez said the amount roughly corresponded to the funds sought by Romulo.

In another instance in May 2003, Romulo again requested for P5 million supposedly for funding of the “task force for the coordination of Philippine humanitarian assistance to Iraq.” Again, Arroyo made an annotation allowing the use of OWWA funds.

Chavez said those funds taken from OWWA were used in projects “which had absolutely no direct and exclusive benefit to OFWs.”

It was the third corruption complaint filed in the DOJ against Arroyo, who stepped down as chief executive on June 30 last year. The first was the graft case filed by Bayan Muna Reps. Teodoro Casiño and Neri Javier Colmenares in July last year in connection with alleged anomalies in the botched $329-million national broadband network deal with China’s ZTE Corp.

The second was the plunder case filed also last year by tax informant Danilo Lihay-lihay in connection with the sale of P1-billion prime land near the old Iloilo airport to Megaworld Corp. in 2007.

Meanwhile, the DOJ has again given Arroyo’s son Ang Galing Pinoy Rep. Juan Miguel “Mikey” Arroyo and his wife Angela more time or until June 27 to answer the P73.85-million tax evasion charges filed against them by the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) last month.

For the second time, the couple failed to attend the hearing yesterday set by investigating panel chaired by Senior State Prosecutor Lagrimas Agaran since they are still in the US on vacation, according to their lawyer Ruy Rondain.

Rondain explained to the panel that Mikey and his wife will arrive in the country on June 17. The panel stressed there would be no more extension.

Mikey had earlier claimed that his right to due process had been violated since the BIR had filed the complaint even before they could explain their side.

Rondain said the complaint was immediately filed with the DOJ last April 7, or just two days after his client received an audit notice.

In its complaint, the BIR accused the couple of wrongful declaration of taxable income and non-filing of income tax returns (ITR), in violation of section 254 and 255 of the National Internal Revenue Code.

The lawmaker reportedly only paid BIR P2.4 million, P1.7 million and P376,000 in taxes for the years 2004, 2006 and 2007, respectively, when he and his wife bought several properties worth millions from 2004 to 2009 – including residential houses in the US, in Lubao, Pampanga and in La Vista Subdivision in Quezon City.

The BIR patterned its investigation on the Arroyo couple after the method used by US authorities against gangster Al Capone. Investigators found “substantial under-declaration of income by over 30 percent in those three years.”

Mikey also supposedly did not file ITR in the taxable years 2005, 2008 and 2009, while his wife also did not file any ITR from 2003 to 2009.

If found guilty, the couple may face imprisonment of up to four years and fine of at least P30,000 for each count of under-declaration of taxes and imprisonment of up to 10 years and P10,000-fine for each count of non-filing of ITR.