Court grants DOF exec’s request for reduced bail

THE Sandiganbayan has ordered the reduction of bail for criminal charges filed against a former official of the Department of Finance (DOF) over the multi-billion pesos Tax Credit Certificate scam.

Defendant Asuncion Magdaet, former tax specialist for the DOF One Stop Shop Inter-Agency Tax Credit and Duty Drawback Center (OSS Center), was named co-accused of late DOF Undersecretary Antonio Belicena in eight counts of graft and eight counts of estafa through falsification of public documents.

The prosecution recommended that bail bonds for the accused be set at P30,000 per case or a total of P480,000.

In her Consolidated Motion filed on June 17, 2024, Magdaet said she no longer has the financial capability to come up with the required amount since she is now jobless.

Invoking the liberality of the court, she asked that for all 16 cases, the total bail bond be reduced to only P45,000, saying 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.”

She added that because of the numerous cases spawned by investigations into the so-called TCC scam, she was indicted in hundreds of cases but was allowed to post reduced bail.

The accused said the First and Third Divisions where she is facing 16 similar cases also approved her request to lower the bail amounts to P45,000.

Prosecutors objected to the defense motion, saying Magdaet is not entitled to any relief because she remains at large.

Invoking the Supreme Court ruling in the 2006 case of Miranda et al vs. Tuliao, the Sandiganbayan said that although custody over the defendant is required before it can act upon an application for bail, there were exceptions including requests for affirmative relief through reduced bail.

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

While it granted the reduction of the required bail bond, the court said the defendant’s continued efforts to evade its jurisdiction weighs against her hence it deemed that the bail be set at P10,000 per case or a total of P160,000.

Associate Justice Lorifel Lacap Pahimna penned all