The Supreme Court has ordered the Sandiganbayan to proceed with the trial of an assistant city prosecutor in Quezon City for graft and direct bribery for allegedly extorting P80,000 from a doctor who had been tagged as part of the communist movement.
The high court’s First Division, through Associate Justice Amy Lazaro-Javier, reversed the resolutions issued by the anti-graft court on April 12, 2017, and May 22, 2017, which allowed the dismissal of the complaint against Assistant City Prosecutor Raul Desembrana of the Quezon City Prosecutor’s Office by the Ombudsman’s Office of the Special Prosecutor due to unreasonable delay in the conduct of the preliminary investigation.
The high court ruled that the Sandiganbayan committed grave abuse of discretion in dismissing the complaints due to a supposed violation of Desembrana’s right to a speedy trial by the Office of the Special Prosecutor.
“Indubitably, neither the OSP nor the Office of the Ombudsman is guilty of inordinate delay in the disposition of the cases against private respondent. The ball was already in the Sandiganbayan’s court, so to speak,” the tribunal said.
“Instead of proceeding with the arraignment of private respondent and the rest of the rigmarole, the Sandiganbayan procrastinated, and worse, on the basis of a law that has been overtaken by time and legal developments.”
Court records showed that Desembrana was criminally charged before the Office of the Ombudsman in November 2014 after he was caught during an entrapment operation accepting an P80,000 bribe from a litigant.
The operation against Desembrana was laid down by the National Bureau of Investigation after receiving a complaint from the National Union of Peoples’ Lawyers that the official had demanded the money as “SOP” [standard operating procedure] in exchange for dismissing the unjust vexation, coercion and threat filed against Montes and his son, Dr. Connor Montes, by retired military chaplain Reuben Espartinez.
After posting bail on Nov. 21, 2014, Desembrana filed a motion with the Sandibaganbayan to suspend his arraignment pending his motion to conduct a preliminary investigation with the OSP.
This was granted by the Sandiganbayan and gave the OSP 60 days to conduct a full preliminary investigation.
“While the OSP exceeded the time limit of 60 days, the OSP on two occasions sought additional time to complete the preliminary investigation. These were neither opposed by private respondent nor rebuffed by the Sandiganbayan. They were therefore deemed granted,” the high court said.
The high court said Desembrana could also be faulted for the delay since up until Sept. 3, 2015, he was still filing a rejoined-affidavit with the OSP.