Courts junking Ombudsman cases to clear up dockets, says Martires
MANILA, Philippines — Courts have allegedly been citing "inordinate delay" as a reason to junk Ombudsman cases to clear up their case dockets, Ombudsman Samuel Martires said on Monday, September 23.
During the Office of the Ombudsman’s budget hearing at the Senate, Martires was asked about why certain cases have been dismissed.
“This has been the easy way out of some courts in, I’m sorry to say this, in trying to reduce their dockets, we have been suffering dismissals of cases on the ground of inordinate delay. But if you look at the statutes, these cases that we have filed, this is still within the prescriptive period of the offense committed,” Martires said.
Inordinate delays are often cited by a defendant invoking their right to a speedy trial.
Martires said he couldn't specify how many cases were dismissed in court due to inordinate delays. But he expects, however, that some of the cases they've already filed will similarly be junked.
“There is one, or several cases that we intend to file, we’ll not mention the nature of the case or the title of the case, we are expecting that most of these cases will be dismissed by the court on the grounds of inordinate delay,” Martires said.
Martires, who did not name the courts, vowed to look deeper into the case, as they had to review up to 10,000 pages to complete them, which could take up to one year.
Next steps? Suggesting legislation, the Ombudsman asked the Senate to define what exactly an "inordinate delay" is. He also said the Office of the Ombudsman will likewise ask the same of the House of Representatives.
“Right now, preliminary investigation, which is in criminal cases, is counted in the computation of inordinate delay,” Martires said.
The Ombudsman is tasked with probing corruption in the government, but it does not dole out sentences, contrary to what others believe.
The Office of the Ombudsman sought P8.57 billion for its 2025 budget, but said that they will settle for the P5.82 that the Department of Budget and Management proposed for them.
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