The Supreme Court (SC) Third Division has affirmed the
decision of the Sandiganbayan to dismiss the six graft charges filed against 14
Philippine Air Force (PAF) officers due to "ghost deliveries" of
procured construction materials and supplies worth PHP89 million for the 5th
Fighter Wing, PAF in Basa Airbase, Pampanga.
In an 18-page decision issued on August 23 but released to
media Tuesday, and penned by Associate Justice Diosdado Peralta and concurred
in by Associate Justices Presbitero Velasco Jr., Jose Portugal Perez,
Bienvenido Reyes, and Francis Jardeleza, the SC’s Third Division agreed with
the Sandiganbayan ’s resolutions issued on October 15, 2010 and September 16,
2011 dismissing the complaints against the respondents .
The High Court affirmed the Sandiganbayan's resolutions
issued in 2010 and 2011 dismissing the complaints against the following
respondents: Lt. Gen. Leopoldo S. Acot (retired) , B/Gen. Ildefonso N.
Dulinayan (retired), Maj. Gen. Glenn Orquila, Lt. Col. Santiago B. Ramirez, Lt.
Col. Cesar M. Carifio, Maj. Proceso T. Sabado , Maj. Pacquito L. Cuenca, lLt.
Marcelino M. Morales, M/Sgt. Atulfo D. Tampolino and Remedios Diaz , Capts.
Herminigildo Llave and Jose Gadin; and supplier-contractors Gloria Bayona and
Ramon Bayona Jr.,
The Court said the Ombudsman violated the constitutional
rights of the defendants to due process and to speedy disposition of their case
because the preliminary investigation took 15 years to finish.
It noted that the complaint against the military officials
was filed on December 28, 1994 until the issuance of a resolution dated April
12, 1996.
“Reasoning that the Office of the Ombudsman was in the midst
of transferring to a new building is a lame excuse not to have resolved the
matter at the earliest opportunity,” the SC noted.
“In addition, the prolonged investigation of the case from
1998 to 2009 by three Ombudsmen with divergent views as to what charges should
be filed and the persons to be indicted cannot sufficient justification for the
unreasonable length of time it took to resolve the controversy,” it added.
Due to the “unjustified” delay in the filing of cases, the
SC said it cannot be denied that the respondents’ constitutional right to due
process and speedy disposition of cases had been violated.
“As the institutional vanguard against corruption and
bureaucracy, the Office of the Ombudsman should create a system of
accountability in order to ensure that cases before it are resolved with
reasonable dispatch and to equally expose those who are responsible for its
delays, as it ought to determine in this case,” the SC added.
In upholding the dismissal of the charges against the PAF
officers, the SC added that the investigation process against them commenced on
December 28, 1994 when the complaint was filed with the Ombudsman.
On April 12, 1996, the Ombudsman recommended the filing of
graft charges against the respondents.
The SC noted that it took more than 13 years to review and
file the said information before the Sandiganbayan.
“The question therefore is – was the delay on the part of
the Office of the Ombudsman vexatious, capricious and oppressive? We answer in
the affirmative,” the SC ruled.
The SC added that the reasons offered by the Ombudsman to
justify the delay were not convincing to warrant the reversal of the dismissal
of the case.
The case stemmed from the letter-complaint filed by a
certain Carmelita Ramirez before the Ombudsman for the Military and other Law
Enforcement Officers (MOLEO) accusing that the respondents conspired and
defrauded the government in the amount of PHP89 million through ghost
deliveries.
The complaint prompted the MOLEO to conduct a fact-finding
investigation.
It found out that based on the audit of Armed Forces of the Philippines
http://www.pna.gov.ph/index.php?idn=1&sid=&nid=1&rid=922562
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.