The Sandiganbayan has dismissed the case of the former municipal carpenter of Maitum, Sarangani, citing “inordinate delay.”
Remigius Mayled was charged with the alleged falsification of his rating in the 1993 civil engineering board examinations.
In a decision dated July 12, the anti-graft court’s Second Division said it dismissed the case against Mayled, the former carpenter general foreman, owing to the violation of his right to a speedy trial and speedy disposition of cases.
The prosecutor took 16 years to file charges against Mayled, the court said.
Citing inordinate delay, Mayled earlier filed a motion to dismiss the case leveled against him.
Then-Acting Presiding Judge Bill Lugo Ybarley of Branch 38 of the Regional Trial Court in Alabel, Sarangani denied the motion, prompting Mayled to file a petition for certiorari at the Sandiganbayan on April 3, 2017.
The Sandiganbayan also disregarded the claims of the prosecution that Mayled also contributed to the delay by filing numerous petitions.
“The Court, however, finds that had rules of procedure been properly observed and followed, there would have been no 16 years of unreasonable delay without the trial of the cases being commenced. Had that been done, any dilatory actions or motions filed by petitioner could not cause the unjustified delay in the proceedings,” the anti-graft court said in its decision written by division chairman, Associate Justice Oscar Herrera Jr.; with Associate Justices Michael Frederick Musngi and Lorifel Pahimna concurred.
The anti-graft court also blamed Ybarley for having contributed to the delay of Mayled’s case due to “negligence.”
“The issuance by respondent Judge of the assailed orders demonstrated abuse of discretion that was so patent and gross amounting to an evasion of a positive duty, or to a virtual refusal to perform a duty enjoined by law, or to act in contemplation of law,” the Sandiganbayan said.
Mayled was charged with falsification of public documents when he allegedly faked his examination rating in the board examinations administrated by the Board of Civil Engineering of the Professional Regulation Commission in the PRC Certification and Personal Data Sheet.
These documents were the ones he submitted to the town government when he applied for the position as municipal carpenter in 1994.
He claimed he obtained the passing rate of 73 percent when he, in fact, scored the failing grade of 45.7 percent.
However, Mayled’s case was still in the pre-trial stage as of Sept. 21, 2016, or 16 years after the charges were filed in court.