THE Supreme Court has dismissed all the petitions arising from the criminal complaints filed against the co-accused of former president and now Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal Arroyo in connection with the alleged multi-million-peso anomaly involving Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office funds.
The high court dismissed the consolidated petitions citing the supervening events at the Sandiganbayan anti-graft court acquitting the PCSO’s former directors.
The Court said there exists no actual case or controversy at the moment, and that compelled it to dismiss the pending petitions.
“The actual case or controversy that may have justified the filing of each of the consolidated petitions no longer exists,” the Court said.
“Any discussion on the probable cause supposedly underlying petitioner’s indictment and arrest will be a purely theoretical exercise that will serve no practical judicial value.”
The high court grounded its ruling on the April 6, 2015 resolution of the Sandiganbayan in which it dismissed the plunder charges against former PCSO directors Manuel Morato, Raymundo Roquero and Jose Taruc because there was no proof that PCSO funds were diverted for their benefit.
Former Commission on Audit Chairman Reynaldo Villar and her co-accused Nilda Plaras had also been cleared by the anti-graft court of criminal liability.
“Conformably, the dispositive portion of the Sandiganbayan’s April 6, 2015 Resolution explicitly stated that Morato, Roquero, Taruc and Villar were acquitted of the offense charged,” the high court said.
Last July, the high court acquitted Arroyo of plunder for allegedly embezzling P366 million from the PCSO’s intelligence funds from 2008 to 2010.