Sandiganbayan cases filed by Ombudsman dip by more than half in 2018

MANILA, Philippines — Data from the Sandiganbayan shows that the cases filed by the Office of the Ombudsman went down from 2,513 in 2017 to just 739 in 2018, or a 71 percent decrease year-on-year.

The downward trend can be attributed to Ombudsman Samuel Martires’ previous pronouncement that he would discuss issues with other office officials before issuing any order.

He also vowed to check on pending cases left by his predecessor, former Ombudsman Conchita Carpio-Morales.

READ: Martires takes oath as new Ombudsman

Since Martires took office in July 2018 and until the end of December 2018, the Ombudsman has filed an average of 36 cases per month. This is lower compared to Carpio-Morales’ 80 per month rate recorded from January 2018 to July 2018.

However, in 2018, the most number of cases was  filed in October (171), around two months after Martires formally took over Carpio-Morales’ duties.

Majority of the complaints in 2018 were for alleged violation of R.A. 3019 or the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act (341 or 46 percent of all cases), followed by malversation (144 or 19 percent); and falsification of public documents (115 or 15 percent).

This was the same scenario in 2017, when most cases involved graft (740 or 29 percent of all cases); malversation (702 or 27 percent), and falsification (671 or 26 percent). /ee