Order Padaca’s arrest, prosecutor asks court

MANILA, Philippines – Order the police and the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) to arrest former Isabela Gov and incoming Commission on Elections commissioner Grace Padaca, the Office of the Special Prosecutor asked the Sandiganbayan on Thursday, October 4.

Padaca was named new commissioner of the Commission on Elections last Tuesday, October 2.

In a motion, the Office of the Special Prosecutor asked the court to enforce the long-standing arrest warrant issued against Padaca last May 21. The Sandiganbayan issued the arrest warrant against her over charges of graft and malversation of public funds that were filed by the Office of the Ombudsman.

“Accused Padaca has not yet surrendered nor posted bail,” said the motion filed by Beda Epres, graft and investigation and prosecution officer. The court should thus order the police and the NBI to “enforce the warrant against accused Padaca,” Epres said in the motion.

The prosecutor noted that Padaca has been in public places despite the warrant. He added that the police and the NBI already have copies of the warrant.

Sandiganbayan Associate Justice Roland B. Jurado, chairman of the court’s Fifth Division, signed the warrant on May 21, and set her bail bond at P40,000 for malversation and P30,000 for the graft case.

But Padaca has refused to post bail.

Padaca had sought deferment of the issuance of the warrant as she challenged the basis for the indictments, but this was opposed by prosecutors Epres and Omar Sagadal.

The case

Padaca was accused of giving undue advantage to the Economic Development for Western Isabela and Northern Luzon Foundation Inc. (EDWINLFI), a non-government organization tapped to manage a credit facility for Isabela’s rice farmers under a hybrid seed distribution program.

The NGO was entrusted the sum of P25-M which was part of a loan drawn by the provincial government from the Development Bank of the Philippines. This was by virtue of a memorandum of agreement signed in January 2006.

Prosecutors questioned the failure of defendants to conduct a public bidding when the transaction was in the nature of a management or consultancy a contract. They noted the absence of any provision for safeguards on the amount entrusted to the NGO.

In a report issued by the Commission on Audit, government auditors said EDWINLFI failed to liquidate P3.6-M under “due from NGOs/POs” and another P18-M under “loans receivables.” – Rappler.com