The Philippine Online Chronicles

Former president Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has been cleared of plunder charges for the sale of land near the old Iloilo airport during her administration, reports the Philippine Star.

In a resolution forwarded to the Office of the Ombudsman, the Department of Justice (DOJ) recommended the dismissal of the plunder case filed by Danilo Lihay-lihay against Arroyo over the sale of the P1-billion property to Megaworld Corp. in 2007.

“The investigating panel chaired by Senior Assistant State Prosecutor Peter Ong said the complaint lacked probable cause to warrant the indictment of Arroyo for plunder,” the report said.

The report disclosed that the DOJ had come up with the resolution as early as last week, but refused to make it public as it will still be reviewed by the ombudsman.

It was also last week that the department issued a resolution denying the Arroyo family’s request to travel to seek medical treatment abroad.

The department has placed the Arroyos in the immigration watch list in relation to the electoral sabotage charges filed against them, a move which was described by the Arroyo camp as illegal.

But in the plunder case, the DOJ gave weight to the former president Arroyo’s denial of the complaint in her counter-affidavit filed in October last year.

“I did not sell the existing Iloilo airport, which obviously did not belong to me, but to the national government, but only authorized its disposition through an asset disposition program,” Arroyo told the DOJ through her lawyer Estelito Mendoza.

“I did not myself sell any asset and, consequently, no income can be imputed to me,” she added.

Arroyo said that the complaint should have been dismissed outright since it clearly “does not show on its face that the offense of plunder has been committed.”

Arroyo’s lawyer said the case is for the Bureau of Internal Revenue, not the DOJ, to investigate as the complaint alleges violation of the National Internal Revenue Code.

In his complaint, Lihay-lihay, who is president of Philippine Association of Revenue Investigators, alleged that the government’s sale of the prime land in Iloilo to Megaworld was illegal. He said the law bars private entities from “acquiring any kind of alienable land of the public domain.”

Also named respondents in the case were former foreign affairs secretary Alberto Romulo, Megaworld Corp. owner Andrew Tan, former finance secretary Margarito Teves and former Finance Privatization Council head John Sevilla, according to the report.

According to the Sandiganbayan, the Office of the Ombudsman, not the DOJ, has the authority to file plunder, graft and other criminal cases against the former president.