OMBUDSMAN Conchita Carpio Morales on Tuesday asked the Supreme Court to review the doctrine of “inordinate delay” over the dismissal of cases filed before the Sandiganbayan for the current year.
At a news conference, Morales called on Supreme Court Chief Justice Lourdes Sereno to set standards or guidelines in the determination of what an ordinate delay was.
This after she expressed alarm over the anti-graft court’s dismissal of more than 25 cases for supposed delays in the prosecution.
“We have requested or moved the Supreme Court to revisit the inordinate delay doctrine,” she said.
On March 23, the Ombudsman filed a motion with the Sandiganbayan seeking the suspension of inordinate delay rule in acquitting defendants in graft and corruption cases.
Morales said the Supreme Court must issue standardized guidelines to “enlighten once and for all trial judges, to know when we start counting and what is it all about.”
The Ombudsman challenged the dismissal of graft raps against ex-Government Security Insurance System president Winston Garcia, Ozamiz City Mayor Reynaldo Parojinog Sr. and Nova Princess Parojinog, Anda, Pangasinan Mayor Aldrin Cerdan, Masbate Gov. Antonio Kho, Zamboanga del Sur Rep. Aurora Cerilles, and 12 officials from the Philippine National Construction Corp., among others.
“Of course, I’m frustrated. The trouble is that we feel very strongly about the merits of the case,” Morales said.
When a case is dismissed due to inordinate delay, the State is deprived of its right to prosecute and seek the truth if a respondent is guilty or not, she added.
Deputy Ombudsman Gerard Mosquera said the date of reckoning of an inordinate delay must start once a preliminary investigation starts, and not during the initial fact-finding stage.
“The Office of the Ombudsman is a very unique public institution,” he said.
The Sandiganbayan blamed the Ombudsman for its delayed investigations that caused the dismissal of many graft cases.
But Morales said the anti-graft court, appellate court and regional trial courts also committed inordinate delays.
“Why don’t they look at the Sandiganbayan? Why don’t they look at the regional trial courts? Why don’t they look at the Supreme Court?” she told a previous CNN interview.
“Mirror themselves. Is there no inordinate delay on their part?”
Morales said the crimes against humanity complaint filed with the International Criminal Court at The Hague, the Netherlands would not hinder the Ombudsman to pursue an ongoing probe of the extrajudicial killings of the Duterte’s war on drugs.
Lawyer Jude Sabio filed a 77-page complaint against President Rodrigo Duterte with the International Criminal Court, accusing him and 11 others of mass murder and crimes against humanity.
“The ICC can only complement Philippine laws. If it would believe that the Philippine government is doing something to control or act upon the complaint, or the subject of the complaint of Edgardo Matobato, then probably the ICC will not move because it’s supposed to complement only,” she said.