MANILA, Philippines — As a consequence of over eight years of the Workplace of the Ombudsman’s “inordinate delay” in finishing its preliminary investigation, the Sandiganbayan has granted the bid of former Bislig Metropolis, Surigao del Sur Mayor Librado Navarro to quash the legal complaints filed in opposition to him in reference to the anomalous disbursement of greater than P100,000 from town’s particular schooling fund.
In a 10-page decision dated August 4, the anti-graft courtroom’s Third Division ordered the dismissal of the case in opposition to him, invalidating the maintain departure order issued in opposition to the previous mayor.
“After an intensive overview of the data of the instances, the courtroom holds that the time it took the OMB-Mindanao (Ombudsman in Mindanao) to conduct the preliminary investigation and file the mandatory Informations in opposition to Navarro was unreasonable, vexatious, capricious, oppressive, extreme, and violated his proper to speedy disposition of instances. Accordingly, the movement to quash needs to be granted,” the doc reads.
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Navarro, together with co-accused Racquel Bautista and Roberto Viduya, was going through 23 counts of Unlawful Use of Public Funds or Property (Article 220 of the Revised Penal Code) for allegedly conspiring to disburse a complete of P131,887.41 from town’s Particular Schooling Fund in 2012. The funds had been reportedly used for journey bills, tools and car repairs, workplace provides, gas, a money e book, and different miscellaneous objects.
A grievance was filed earlier than the Ombudsman in Mindanao on February 1, 2016, however it took the anti-graft physique greater than seven years to seek out possible trigger—solely issuing a decision on September 11, 2023.
The Workplace of the Particular Prosecutor later filed 23 legal informations in opposition to the three earlier than the Sandiganbayan on Could 30, 2024.
Regardless of the extended investigation, the Sandiganbayan famous that the OMB-Mindanao “failed to indicate proof to help” the allegations in opposition to the officers.
“There are solely three respondents concerned, and there’s no proof that the data of the instances are voluminous to warrant a number of years of overview. Though there are 23 transactions concerned, these are merely small quantities totaling P131,887.41 solely. These are easy instances involving Unlawful Use of Public Funds which don’t require elaborate investigation and scrutiny,” the Sandiganbayan defined.
“For the reason that parts of Unlawful Use of Public Funds may be readily decided from the data, there is no such thing as a purpose why the OMB-Mindanao took a whole lot of time to complete the preliminary investigation and file the corresponding Informations in courtroom,” it added.
Citing the Ombudsman Act of 1989, the Sandiganbayan stated the anti-graft physique is required to promptly act on complaints filed earlier than it.
In his movement to quash dated March 25, the anti-graft courtroom disclosed that Navarro well timed raised his proper to speedy disposition of instances.
The Sandiganbayan defined that the best to a speedy disposition of a case, like the best to speedy trial, is deemed violated solely “when the proceedings are attended by vexatious, capricious, and oppressive delays, or when unjustified postponements of the trial are requested for and secured, or when with out trigger or justifiable motive, a very long time is allowed to elapse with out the social gathering having his case tried.”
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In a separate decision dated March 7, the courtroom granted the movement to quash of Bautista and Viduya. Equally, the instances in opposition to them had been dismissed for violation of their proper to speedy disposition of instances. /cb
