Indicted gov’t official with dementia seeks acquittal

MANILA, Philippines – Should an indicted government official be acquitted or his cases be archived, when he is “mentally unfit” to stand trial? 

This is the question the Sandiganbayan Second Division must now answer, after an 81-year-old former finance official was diagnosed with dementia and declared “incompetent to stand trial.”

Lawyer Jose Flaminiano, legal counsel of former Department of Finance (DOF) Undersecretary Antonio Belicena, asked for the termination, suspension, or archiving of the 47 charges against his client pending before the division.

Flaminiano filed a motion Monday, May 26, with an accompanying 4-page report by doctors at the National Center for Mental Health (NCMH) declaring his client “incompetent to stand the rigors of court trial.”

“This mental disorder is characterized with the development of multiple cognitive deficits manifested by impairments in memory, orientation and judgment,” read the report.

The NCMH team of doctors referred Belicena to a neuro-psychiatrist, on top of regular monitoring at the NCMH. The team is led by Dr Edison Galindez, chief of the NCMH Forensic Psychiatry Section.

“Although the patient has demonstrated appreciation of the charges against him and of the possible consequences of his cases, it is our opinion that his impairments in cognition will render him incapable to testify in court,” the team’s report read.

Belicena is the former head of the DOF One-Stop Shop Inter-Agency Tax Credit and Duty Drawback Center.

For 3 years since 1995, the center approved the issuance of allegedly fake tax credit certificates (TCCs) amounting to over P5 billion (over $114 million*).

Intended as a protectionist mechanism for the local manufacturing industry, the TCC system refunded manufacturing companies taxes paid in the production of local goods for export.

The scam to siphon off government funds through illegal TCCs was uncovered in 1998. It was the subject of a Senate probe in aid of legislation at the time. Over 700 cases have been filed over the scam since.

According to testimonies during the 1998 Senate probe, around P5.3 billion to P6 billion worth of illegal TCCs were issued by the OSS-Center.

Belicena’s lawyer Flaminiano said there are still 550 cases against his client in the 5 divisions of the Sandiganbayan. This includes graft, estafa and falsification of public documents.

In 2013, the Sandiganbayan First Division ordered that Belicena undergo mental examination. The Sandiganbayan First Division later ordered the archiving of Belicena’s 7 cases filed before the division, due to Belicena’s medical condition. The anti-graft court said the cases will be revived if Belicena’s condition improves.

Belicena’s co-accused before the division will still face indictment. – Rappler.com

*$1 = P43.84