CJ Sereno insists ex-President Arroyo is liable simply because of “command responsibility”

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MANILA—Chief Justice Maria Lourdes P. Aranal Sereno has insisted that former President and now Pampanga (2nd District) Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo is liable for the crime of plunder simply because of the existing principle of “command responsibility.”

Sereno, who belongs to the losing minority in the Supreme Court (SC), after the majority of the Justices ruled that Mrs. Arroyo was innocent of the crime of plunder, said that the doctrine of command responsibility applied in this case.

Voting 11-4, the SC on Tuesday dismissed for insufficiency of evidence the plunder case against Mrs. Arroyo involving the alleged misuse of the Php 366 million confidential intelligence funds (CIF) of the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) from 2008 to 2010.

Aside from Arroyo, also charged with plunder by the Office of the Ombudsman (Ombudsman) before the Sandiganbayan were PCSO General Manager and Vice Chairman Rosario Uriarte; Board of Directors Manuel Morato, Jose Taruc, Raymundo Roquero, Ma. Fatima Valdes; Budget and Accounts Manager Benigno Aguas; Commission on Audit (COA) Chairman Reynaldo Villar; and former COA’s CIF Fraud Audit Unit head Nilda Plaras.

Sereno objected to the findings of the majority, particularly the ponencia of Associate Justice Lucas P. Bersamin that the “doctrine of command responsibility does not apply since this case does not involve Arroyo’s functions as Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces of the Philippines.”

“Contrary to that statement of the ponencia, however, the control of the President, not only over the PCSO, but also over the intelligence funds, is clearly mandated by Letter of Instruction No. (LOI) 1282, which sheds light on the role of the President when it comes to the expenditure of intelligence funds,” Sereno said in her dissenting opinion.

The Chief Justice also cited Arroyo’s approval of the release of funds for seven times in the course of three years “reveals the initial, indispensable act of conspiracy to commit plunder.”

“The repeated approval of the requests in the course of three years is the crucial and indispensable act without which the amount of nearly Php 366 million could not have been plundered,” Sereno said.

Moreover, Sereno said that there was evidence against Arroyo, Uriarte and Aguas.

“The act of amassing, accumulating, or acquiring CIF Funds is thus evident. I agree with the Sandiganbayan’s pronouncement that Arroyo was rightly charged as a co-conspirator of Uriarte who received the cash advance for most of the accounts,” Sereno said.

Despite the fact that the issue where the money went and who benefited from the alleged plundered money was remained unanswered and forced the SC Majority to acquit Arroyo, however, the Chief Justice insisted that personal benefit need not be proven in the crime of plunder.

“In this case, there is ample evidence to show that Uriarte gained material possession of the amounts through cash advances facilitated by the repeated and unqualified approval of the requests by Arroyo and that a large portion of the amount received as cash advance was later certified by Aguas to have been used by the Office of the President,” Sereno said.

With this, Sereno insisted that Arroyo and Aguas failed to show evidence that the Sandiganbayan gravely abused its discretion and the Ombudsman was not remiss of its duties despite losing this huge case against the former president and now a legislator of Pampanga.