Martires bares reforms to avoid case dismissals due to ‘inordinate delay’

The House Appropriations Committee heard first-hand Monday from newly installed Ombudsman Samuel Martires the changes he will be implementing to avoid dismissals of Ombudsman-filed cases due to “inordinate delay.”

Martires was asked during the Appropriations panel hearing on the Ombudsman's proposed 2019 budget how many cases were thrashed by the Sandiganbayan because of this technicality.

“About 135 more or less cases have been dismissed by the Sandiganbayan due to inordinate delay,” Martires told Eastern Samar lone district Rep. Ben Evardone.

Evardone then made a follow up: “Do you have reforms to prevent dismissal of such cases because of inordinate delay?”

“We will shorten the pe-

riod of preliminary investigations (PI). We will give every investigator only about 90 days unless there is a compelling or justifiable reason to extend,” replied the former Sandigan and Supreme Court (SC) Associate Justice.

“But in no case probably--we still have to discuss this with the prosecutors — will a PI be more than one year,” Martires said.

Oriental Mindoro 1st district Rep. DoyLeachon presided over the Ombudsman's budget hearing in his capacity as panel vice chairman.

The Sandiganbayan hears cases of erring government officials and employees filed by the Ombudsman.

The “prosecutor's” role is taken up by the Ombudsman, which is expected to carry out investigations in a timely manner.

“I also intend to centralize all PI such that the investigating prosecutor will also be the trial prosecutor so that he would know how to build up his case,” Martires added.

"By the time the case is filed, the prosecutor will be prepared to go to trial. Tucked in his belt are judicial affidavits and the documents he needs to present in court," he concluded.