Manila: The Department of Justice yesterday recommended the plunder charge against besieged former president Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo be downgraded to technical malversation.
The complainant, former solicitor-general Francisco Chavez, has alleged Arroyo approved the diversion of $293,500 (Dh1.08 million) held by the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) to help finance the evacuation of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) from Iraq in 2003, with the US-led coalition about to invade.
Aside from the stockpiling of supplies for OFWs the money was also intended to be spent on vehicles for several posts in Lebanon, Jordan, Oman, Bahrain, Egypt and Iran.
Lighter penalty
The Department of Justice panel, led by Senior State Prosecutor Theodore Villanueva, had filed similar charges against Alberto Romulo, former Department of Foreign Affairs secretary, former OWWA administrator Virgilio Angelo and Francisco Duque III, the former Philippine Health Insurance (PhilHealth) president and health secretary.
The technical malversation charge is a significant downgrade from an earlier plunder complaint filed against Arroyo by Chavez.
Plunder is an offence punishable by death while technical malversation has a lighter penalty.
In April Chavez filed 550 million peso (Dh45.9 million) plunder raps against Arroyo in connection with the funds intended for health care services for overseas Filipino workers.
But the charges were redrafted in line with the evidence available.
Chavez had initially claimed Arroyo had used the money in her campaign for the presidency in 2004.
Arroyo denies any wrongdoing.
