At-large former DOF official in multi-billion tax scam granted lower bail

MANILA, Philippines – The Sandiganbayan has allowed the reduction of bail for Asuncion Magdaet, a former finance official involved in the multi-billion peso Tax Credit Certificate (TCC) scam in the mid-1990s.

Magdaet, a former tax specialist for the now-defunct Department of Finance One Stop Shop Inter-Agency Tax Credit and Duty Drawback Center (OSS Center), was accused alongside the late former finance undersecretary Antonio Belicana of eight counts of graft, and eight counts of estafa due to falsification of public documents.

The prosecution had recommended bail bonds for all accused at P30,000 per case or a total of P480,000.

On June 17, Magdaet said in a consolidated motion that she no longer had financial capacity to post bail because she was unemployed.

She appealed that the bond for all 16 cases be reduced to just P45,000, invoking liberability of the court. Magdaet said that if she could not pay, she would go to jail, making the “staggering amount of recommended bail tantamount to a denial of her right to bail.”

The defendant also cited being allowed to post reduced bail for hundreds of other cases she was indicted in related to the so-called TCC scam.

While the anti-graft court granted a bail reduction, it was not as low as Magdaet appealed for, since she continued to evade the court’s jurisdiction. The Sandiganbayan set her bail at P10,000 per case, or a total of P160,000.

The prosecution had objected to Magdaet’s motion, saying she was not entitled to any relief because she remained at large.

But the Sandiganbayan said that while custody over the defendant was required before it could act on an application for bail, there were some exceptions, such as requests for affirmative relief through reduced bail. The anti-graft court invoked a 2006 ruling in the case of Miranda et al vs. Tuliao in making the argument.

“Accused Magdaet’s motion is clearly not an application for bail, as she is neither applying nor posting bail,” the Sandiganbayan said.

All eight separate resolutions were penned by Associate Justice Lorifel Lacap Pahimna. Associate Justices Michael Frederick L. Musngi and Juliet M. Manalo-San Gaspar concurred. – Rappler.com