Why Sandiganbayan justice is slow, according to Drilon

Senator Franklin Drilon

Saying that it needed “structural” reforms, Senator Franklin Drilon Thursday revealed that the annual disposition rate of cases before the Sandiganbayan—the government antigraft court—was just below four percent.

Drilon said the tribunal was able to dispose of only 82 graft cases out of the 2,125 cases pending before it in 2010.

“From the court records, its disposition rate is only 3.86 percent. The defect to me is structural because it is difficult to have a collegial body being a trier of facts,” Drilon said.

The antigraft court has five divisions composed of one presiding justice and 14 justices—or three justices sitting in each division.

“It’s difficult because every ruling that must be made on the evidence in the course of a trial, all incidents, must be decided by three justices, so it is among the major reasons for delays,” Drilon said.

“Of course, there are other reasons but this structural defect must be corrected by a system similar to a trial commissioner,” he said.

Drilon said under a trial commissioner system, only one of the three justices would hear the case or conduct the trial “but the decision will be concurred in by the three.”

“That’s the structural system we want to introduce. We’re willing to fund additional courts for the Sandiganbayan,” he said.

Drilon said the antigraft court had sent a proposal to the Senate on what reforms to implement at the tribunal.

“I will ask the President to include it as a priority measure because the administration of justice is one of his major programs. We’ll try to pass it as a priority measure,” Drilon said.