Ex-Postmaster General Josie dela Cruz posts bail

MANILA, Philippines (UPDATED) – Former Postmaster General Josefina “Josie” dela Cruz has posted a P360,000 bail after the Sandiganbayan ordered her arrest for not remitting her employee’s loan payments to the Government Service Insurance System (GSIS).

Dela Cruz was charged last January with 15 counts of violation of the GSIS Act.

When it issued the arrest order, the anti-graft court’s 7th Division also denied Dela Cruz’s motion seeking reinvestigation, a reversal of her indictment by the Ombudsman, judicial determination of probable cause, and quashal of the information against her.

The complaint against Dela Cruz was filed by Philippine Postal Corporation (PhilPost) employee Santos Pamatong Jr, after his loan amortizations to the GSIS were not remitted during a 15-month period – from October 2011 to December 2012.

PhilPost employees who take out a loan from the GSIS should pay it back through salary deduction. PhilPost is then required to remit the deducted money to the GSIS, which didn’t happen in this case.

In her motion, Dela Cruz argued that the charges should have been dismissed because it is the GSIS and not the Sandiganbayan which has jurisdiction over the case.

She earlier explained that PhilPost at the time did not have enough funds, so it had to prioritize employees’ salaries over the remittance of GSIS contributions and loan amortizations.

Because of this, Dela Cruz argued that there is no probable cause to charge her, attributing the case to the concept of force majeure or an unavoidable occurrence that was beyond her control.

In its denial of the motion, the Sandiganbayan noted that during the Ombudsman’s investigation, Dela Cruz failed to present financial records or any document to support her claim that PhilPost had insufficient funds.

The justices also said that the reference to force majeure is better left discussed during trial.

“Based on the records, this Court is convinced that there is probable cause to issue a warrant of arrest against accused Dela Cruz,” the resolution said. – Lian Buan / Rappler.com