MANILA -- The Sandiganbayan 4th Division has allowed the withdrawal of the forfeiture cases of former military comptroller Maj. Gen. Carlos Garcia following the completion of the plea bargaining agreement between him and the Office of the Ombdusman.

The court noted in its resolution dated December 7, 2022 that petitioner Republic of the Philippines has claimed that “substantially all” of the properties sought to be forfeited in Garcia’s criminal case have already been recovered under the plea bargaining agreement.

“Wherefore, in view of the foregoing, the motion to withdraw the petition filed by the Republic of the Philippines, as represented by the Office of the Special Prosecutor, is hereby granted, and Civil Cases No.s 0193 and 0196 are hereby dismissed without prejudice,” the court said in the resolution penned by Associate Justice Bayani Jacinto.

Division Chairperson Michael Frederick Musngi and Associate Justice Lorifel Lacap Pahimna concurred with the decision.

In its withdrawal of the civil cases, the petitioner noted that it does not have enough evidence to support the forfeiture of the remaining properties listed in the petitions.

“Hence, it is withdrawing these cases to prevent further waste of the court’s time, effort, and resources, knowing for a fact that at present, substantially all of the properties may be forfeited had already been forfeited by the state,” the court noted in its resolution.

Last year, the Office of the Ombudsman turned over to the the Bureau of Treasury P53.6 million worth of cheques and 11 titles to real properties that were part of the plea bargain agreement.

• Ombudsman turns over P53.6M, 11 titles to Treasury from Garcia’s plea bargain deal

Garcia, who was convicted and sentenced last year for the lesser offenses of direct bribery and facilitating money laundering, is currently detained at the New Bilibid Prison.

The plunder and money laundering cases stemmed from the alleged acquisition of ill-gotten wealth by Garcia and his co-accused family members: wife Clarita and sons Ian Carl, Juan Paulo and Timothy Mark.

• Ex-military comptroller accused of plunder found guilty of lesser offenses