Ex-general slapped with 11 perjury raps

From the Manila Standard Today (Apr 14): Ex-general slapped with 11 perjury raps

The Office of the Ombudsman has filed eleven counts of perjury against retired Armed Forces Lt. Gen. Jacinto Ligot before the Sandiganbayan for numerous false declarations in his statements of assets, liabilities and net worth from 1993 to 2003.

In an order signed on April 5, 2013, Ombudsman Conchita Carpio Morales denied the respondents’ motions for reconsideration and affirmed a 2005 resolution with modification that the Information for Perjury should exclude Ligot’s interest in Parmil Farms, Inc.

The order found that Ligot’s interest in Parmil Farms Inc. was declared in his SALNs for the years 2001 to 2003 as the SALN form required only the declaration of business and financial interest.

The perjury cases formed part of the Consolidated Supplemental Resolution which also provided that forfeiture proceedings under Republic Act No. 1379 be initiated before the Sandiganbayan against respondents Ligot, his wife Erlinda Yambao Ligot, their children Paulo Ligot, Riza Ligot, Miguel Ligot, and relatives Edgardo Yambao and Miguela Ligot-Paragas for the “recovery of unexplained wealth covering the identified properties or the equivalent value for those already disposed in the amount of at least P 135,280,822.11.”

The Consolidated Supplemental Resolution dismissed, for lack of probable cause, the charge of perjury and violation of RA No. 6713 against Ligot-Paragas.

Records showed that Ligot, his wife and three children filed their Motion for Reconsideration on September 13, 2005 while Edgardo Yambao filed his Motion for Reconsideration on September 14, 2006.

These motions were among several cases unresolved by the former Ombudsman and were discovered during the office-wide inventory of cases directed by Ombudsman Morales upon her assumption to office. These cases were immediately referred for appropriate action to the Ad Hoc Review Committee created pursuant to Office Order No. 121, series of 2012.

Ligot’s motions seeking the forfeiture of the cases were earlier denied in an order dated March 30, 2012. Forfeiture proceedings are now undergoing trial before the Sandiganbayan.

Another former comptroller of the military, former general Carlos Garcia, was charged with plunder but his case was dismissed by the Sandiganbayan on April 11, 2013 as part of a plea bargain deal where he pleaded to a lesser offense of indirect bribery.

http://manilastandardtoday.com/2013/04/14/ex-general-slapped-with-11-perjury-raps/