BOHOL LEADERS ON PRESSCON ABOUT GRAFT CASE DISMISSAL

THE SANDIGANBAYAN FIRST DIVISION HAS DISMISSED THE GRAFT CASE AGAINST INCUMBENT BOHOL REPRESENTATIVE RENE RELAMPAGOS , BOHOL GOVERNOR EDGAR CHATTO AND FIVE OTHERS, citing the inordinate delay of the Office of the Ombudsman in resolving the complaint against them.
“…the court is convinced that the Office of the Ombudsman incurred inordinate and unjustifiable delay in the conduct of the preliminary investigation of this case in violation of the right of the accused to a speedy disposition of their case,” the First Division said in its resolution dated January 21, a copy of which was released to the media on Friday.
In its six-page resolution, the court gave weight to the argument of Relampagos and the other accused that their constitutional right to due process and speedy disposition of a case was violated by the Ombudsman when it took the anti-graft body almost 15 years to resolve the complaint against them and formally filed the case before the Sandiganbayan in October last year.
“The criminal complaint was filed on October 25, 2000 and terminated only on October 23, 2015 with the filing of the information [of the case] before this Court, which means that it took the Office of the Ombudsman fifteen long years to conclude the preliminary investigation,” the ruling penned by First Division chairman Associate Justice Efren Dela Cruz pointed out.
“In this span of years, the Court does not see any intervening event that will excuse the Office of the Ombudsman to stretch the proceedings to such unreasonable length,” the court added.
The ruling was concurred by First Division members Associate Justices Rodolfo Ponferrada and Rafael Lagos.
Relampagos, Chatto and other former Bohol provincial officials are facing violation of Section 3 (g) of Republic Act 3019 or the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act for alleged disadvantageous privatization of the province’s electric and water utilities in 2000.
Based on the information of the case, Relampagos, who was then the governor of Bohol, and Chatto, who was then the vice-governor, in conspiracy with the other provincial officials, allowed the selling of the capitol-owned Provincial Electric System (PES) and Provincial Water System (PWS) to private company Salcon Consortiums at supposedly very low prices.
The case stemmed from a complaint filed before the Ombudsman in 2000 by lawyers belonging to the Association of Concerned Tagbilaranons (ACT), including former acting Bohol governor Victor de la Serna.
The Office of the Ombudsman in 2008 had dismissed the complaint “for lack of probable cause,” but incumbent Ombudsman Conchita Carpio-Morales ordered a reinvestigation in August 2014.
In its ruling, the First Division, dismissed the prosecution’s justification that the delay was never intended to oppress the accused but to ensure that the office issues a correct and valid resolution.
The prosecution pointed out that the 2001 resolution, approved by then Acting Deputy Ombudsman Orlando Casimiro Ombudsman on July 2008, ordering the dismissal of the complaint, was invalid as he only signed the photocopy of the resolution and that “there was no showing that he was authorized to sign the same.”
“Be that as it may, this does not negate the fact that the Office of the Ombudsman committed capricious and vexatious delay,” the court said.
The court also refused to buy the prosecution’s justification that the accused never moved for the early disposition of the complaint during its pendency before the Ombudsman.
“It is not the duty of accused-movants to follow-up the prosecution of their case. ‘A defendant has no duty to bring himself to trial; the State has that duty as well as the duty of insuring that the trial is consistent with due process’,” the First Division said quoting a previous Supreme Court ruling.
The court further pointed out that there was valid reason for accused not to follow-up the status of the complaint as they cannot be blamed for thinking that the complaint has already attained finality when the Ombudsman dismissed the case in 2008.
“On the other hand, the procedural antecedents will reveal that the accused-movants have sensibly believed that the complaint against them was already terminated in 2008. After all, there was no motion for reconsideration or other actions filed assailing the dismissal of the complaint,” the resolution read.
Aside from Relampagos and Chatto, also acquitted were their co-accused Isabelito Tongco, Concepcion Lim, Tomas Abapo Jr., Felix Uy and Dennis Villareal.
Following the dismissal of the case, the court also ordered the lifting of the hold departure order (HDO) against them and the release of the bail bond they earlier posted for their provisional liberty. -Elizabeth Marcelo/KG, GMA News