THE Sandiganbayan First Division has issued
arrest warrants against two officials of the Department of
Agriculture indicted by the Office of the Ombudsman for three
counts of falsification of public documents.
Ordered arrested were DA-Region XII assistant
regional director Abusama M. Alid and Philippine Rice Research
Institute research specialist and Ginintuang Masaganang Ani
program director Frisco Malabanan.
Associate Justice Diosdado Peralta signed the
arrest warrants against the two last Dec. 11 but they were
served only yesterday.
Prosecutors recommended bail bonds of P24,000
for each defendant.
The charges were filed against Alid and
Malabanan on Oct. 1, 2007 after Ombudsman Ma. Merceditas
Gutierrez approved the resolution of Ombudsman for Mindanao
graft investigator and prosecutor Milagros Macaraig which
recommended their indictment.
The cases stemmed from a complaint lodged by
Parido Pigkaulan, legal officer III of the Agriculture-Region
XII Office, who sought an indictment for malversation of public
funds which was overruled and converted to falsification of
public documents.
Alid was accused of altering his Philippine
Airlines plane ticket and his post-travel report submitted in
2004, supposedly with the knowledge of Malabanan.
Alid had denied tampering with the travel
documents claiming DA personnel who harbored ill-will against
him may have "distorted the ticket and the travel report to cast
him in a bad light."
The Ombudsman however held that there was probable cause to
prosecute them for falsifying public documents. – Peter J.
G. Tabingo
