Grace Padaca posts bail for graft charges

MANILA, Philippines – Former election commissioner Grace Padaca on Friday, November 6, has posted bail for her graft charges before the Sandiganbayan.

The Ombudsman indicted Padaca for failing to submit her Statement of Assets, Liabilities and Net Worth (SALN) for 4 years from 2007 to 2010 when she was still the governor of Isabela province.

Accompanied by lawyers Armand Eleazar and Rafael Juico, Padaca posted a P40,000 bail.

Padaca is running again as governor for the 2016 elections against incumbent and re-electionist Governor Faustino “Bojie” Dy III.

She earlier said she submitted her SALNs, but these were lost in the human resources department in the provincial capitol of Isabela.

The suspicion of her camp, she said, was that the files were “intentionally” lost or were not submitted by the HR department.

Thoughts of being detained?

On her Facebook post, Padaca admitted she thought of entering the detention cell to “draw lessons, insights, experiences, from them.”

She said it was fine for her being arrested and detained to personally witness what goes through the process when a government official is arrested and jailed.

“Alam ko na may mga proseso sa batas na gusto ko man o hindi ay kailangan kong pagdaanan,” Padaca said. “Pero habang tinitiis ko ang mga ito,  gawin ko na rin ang aking makakaya na sa pamamagitan ng aking mga karanasan ay mayroon din tayong matutunan sa mga nangyayari sa ating lipunan at pamahalaan, lalong-lalo na sa sistema ng hudikatura sa ating bayan.” 

(I know that there are legal processes that I have to go through whether I like it or not. But as I have to endure all these, I will take this experience to learn how things happen in our society and government, especially the systems of the judiciary.)

But she said she later withdrew the thought and decided to just post bail after her lawyer said she will go through a “cruel and unjust” detainment. – Rappler.com