The Sandiganbayan has junked the plea of Quezon City Councilor Roderick Paulate to dismiss the graft and falsification charges filed against him by the Ombudsman.
Paulate, a movie and television personality, is facing the charges in connection with his alleged hiring of 30 ghost employees.
The antigraft court’s Seventh Division dismissed the urgent omnibus motion to quash of Paulate for “lack of merit.”
He was accused of ordering his chief of staff to prepare questionable Personal Data Sheets and falsified job orders of 30 contractual employees from July 1 to Nov. 15, 2010.
In addition, Paulate allegedly issued certifications stating that these “employees” worked for 40 hours a week and authorized his driver and liaison officer, Vicente Esquilon Bajamunde, to collect their salaries in the sum of P1.1 million.
In his motion to dismiss, Paulate said his right to a speedy disposition of cases was violated when the Ombudsman took seven years, including the preliminary investigation that lasted four years, before the complaint was filed against him at the anti-graft court.
The court, however, said that the elapsed time of the preliminary investigation of the case actually took five years and 11 months but that length of time was reasonable “considering the complexity of the case.”
“The protection under the right to a speedy disposition of cases should not operate to deprive the government of its inherent prerogative in prosecuting criminal cases. This Court finds that there was no violation of accused-movants’ right to speedy disposition of the case against him,” the Sandiganbayan added.