Sandigan orders dismissal of graft raps vs ex-PCGG execs

MANILA, Philippines - Three former commissioners of the Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG) accused of graft escaped prosecution after the Sandiganbayan found that the Office of the Ombudsman had violated their right to a speedy trial.

First Division justices said the charges against Narciso Nario, Tereso Javier and Nicasio Conti must be dismissed because of the anti-graft agency’s unexplained failure to resolve their motions for reconsideration for more than two years.

“That the prosecution filed on April 21, 2014 the... order that was approved by Ombudsman Conchita Carpio-Morales on April 15, 2014, belated and unjustified as it is and already beyond the period granted... will not, as aptly pointed out by the accused, cure or heal the prosecution’s infringement of the constitutional right to speedy disposition of their cases,” read the decision.

The graft charges arose from alleged irregularities in the vehicle rental contracts between the PCGG and United Coconut Planters Bank’s Leasing and Finance Corp. in  2007 and 2009 amounting to P5.93 million and P6.73 million.

The motions for reconsideration of Nario, Javier and Nicasio were left unacted upon for so long that the Sandiganbayan issued eight extensions in 2012, 11 in 2013 and one this year.

A deadline was imposed on March 19, 2014, but records show that prosecutors did not meet it and only submitted their findings though a manifestation and motion dated April 21, 2014.