General, 3 other officers ordered arrested

From The Standard (Feb 16): General, 3 other officers ordered arrested

THE Sandiganbayan has ordered the arrest of a former Marine commandant and three other military officers for  allegedly pocketing P36.77 million in clothing and equipment allowance of soldiers in 1999.

In a resolution, the anti-graft court’s Third Division rejected the respective motions of judicial determination of probable cause of the accused—Maj. Gen. Renato Miranda, Lt. Col. Jeson Batbat, Major Adelo Jandayan and Capt. Felicisimo Millado—and issued arrest warrants on them.

The decision was penned by Associate Justice Sarah Jane Fernandez and concurred by Presiding Justice and Third Division chairperson Amparo Cabotaje-Tang and Associate Justice Samuel Martires.

“In fact, accused Miranda and Jandayan need not file a motion for judicial determination of probable cause, it being a mere superfluity,” it read.

Miranda and company are facing charges of malversation through falsification.
In April 2015, the Office of the Ombudsman indicted the five former officers of the Philippine Marines for their alleged involvement in anomalous transactions of P36,768,028.95 worth of allowances.

Ombudsman Conchita Carpio-Morales said the respondents violated Section 3(e) of Republic Act No. 3019 or the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act) for anomalous utilization of the combat clothing allowance and individual equipment allowance for the benefit of Philippine Marine Corps enlisted personnel.

Miranda was sacked in 2006 for his alleged  links to a coup plot.

Meanwhile, the Sandiganbayan’s Fourth Division also ordered the arrest of former executive director Cyrus Paul Valenzuela of the Optical Media Board for failure to show up in court during the first day of trial of graft charges against him and former OMB chairman Ronnie Ricketts.

The court said Valenzuela was only allowed to post a P30,000 bail on a condition that he attended trial hearings.

Valenzuela and not even his lawyer appeared, prompting the anti-graft court to forfeit his cash bond and issue a bench warrant of arrest.

The trial was cancelled over Valenzuela’s absence.

Ricketts, Valenzuela and several OMB officials and employees were charged with graft raps for the unlawful release of the seized pirated DVDs and VCDs to Sky High Marketing Corp. in May 2010.

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