Two kinds of justice

Gen. Carlos Garcia

THERE are two kinds of justice systems in this country, as most Filipinos are probably aware of. There’s one for the rich and one for the poor. If you’re with the poor as in the case of the Morong 43 health workers, you spend months in jail without the benefit of lawyers or the courts of law. But if you’re like Gen. Carlos Garcia who was caught amassing P303.27 million in ill-gotten wealth, you get to bargain your freedom and have your cased reduced to a petty crime, instead of the plunder charges. No thanks to a sympathetic Ombudsman who also happens to be the person behind the dismissal of the plunder charges against GMA in the NBN-ZTE deal.

In the words of Justice Secretary Leila de Lima, the plea bargain is “illegal and unconscionable”, but is there anything the government can do? She added that it was “manifestly disadvantageous’ to the government and smacks of some collusion somewhere. She said “there is a clear violation of the rules of court on plea bargaining.”

It doesn’t take to be a lawyer to see the faulty logic of the Ombudsman’s move. Since Garcia has been able to post P60,000 for his temporary liberty, that means he no longer faces a plunder rap, which is non-bailable, but something lower. But given the evidence against Garcia in the plunder case, would it be proper for the Ombudsman to simply lower the case without somehow involving the Sandigan? That’s like saying the Ombudsman is appropriating the powers of the Sandigan, right?

De Lima has assured everyone that she will be filing charges against Dep. Ombudsman Wendell Barreras-Sulit and her team for the "deplorable abdication of their duty to prosecute criminals, especially those accused of stealing from the nation's coffers.” Now that makes the problem more lively but complicated. Will that mean the replacement of Sulit in the Garcia case? Incidentally, this was the Sulit who dismissed the plunder raps against GMA in the NBN-ZTE deal.

Now according to Section 8 of the Ombudsman Act of 1989, the special prosecutor may be removed from office by the President for any grounds, including betrayal of public trust. Will P.Noy now exercise that vaunted political will? Or will he continue to cower in fear of the sinister forces that surround his cabinet?

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Garcia, who was in charge of disbursement of military funds when he was comptroller of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), is by far the highest-ranked military official undergoing trial by the Sandiganbayan anti-graft court for the crime of plunder, or graft and corruption on a massive scale. He is a member of the Philippine Military Academy Class of 1971, whose other prominent members include Senators Gregorio Honasan and Panfilo Lacson.

Living in style

In the meantime, Garcia’s family is living it up in style in New York’s Park Avenue. Timothy Mark Garcia, 23, who, during the interview, was decked in designer clothes and is said to be spending his nights in Gucci jackets and YSL boots. Garcia, who works as publicist of designer Marc Jacob, lives in a swank apartment in the gilded Trump Plaza on 502 Park Avenue in New York City, said writer Peter Davis if the US news website “The Daily Beast.”

Based on the report, Garcia said his mother bought his apartment for $765,000 in cash in 2003.
But the case against the older Garcia has somehow restricted his movements. The report says Garcia as complaining of the gadget attached to him by US authorities to monitor his movement and location while he is out on bail.

Garcia and his two brothers, Juan Pablo, 27, and Ian Karl, 20, as well as their mother Clarita are out on bail of $1 million each after the US government filed in court charges of money laundering against them.

They are also the subject of extradition proceedings from the Philippine government.
In the report, even the bed for Garcia’s dog, Cartier, is a mohair bed done by Gucci.
The family’s trouble started when Timothy Mark and his younger brother Ian Carl were arrested by US customs authorities on December 19, 2003 at the San Francisco Airport in California for carrying $100,000 in cash

Their arrest would later unravel their father’s alleged financial scam while serving as the military comptroller which, in turn, led to his detention, trial and conviction by court martial.

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http://www.philstar.com/Article.aspx?articleId=478996&publicationSubCategoryId=63
— with sources from GMANews.TV