MANILA, Philippines — The Supreme Court has ordered the Sandiganbayan to proceed with the graft case against Ozamiz City Vice Mayor Nova Princes E. Parojinog-Echavez, the daughter of former city mayor Reynaldo O. Parojinog Sr., in connection with the questionable contract surrounding the 2008 renovation of the city’s multi-purpose building.
In a decision made public Monday, the Court’s third division, through Associate Justice Diosdado M. Peralta, reversed the Sandiganbayan’s 2017 ruling dismissing the graft case.
READ: Sandigan upholds dismissal of Parojinog graft case
The Office of the Ombudsman filed the case based on a 2010 anonymous complaint and a report from the Commission on Audit (COA).
A COA Special Audit Report disclosed that Parojinog-Echavez is a managing partner at Parojinog and Sons Construction Company, which won the award for the multi-purpose Ramirez Gymnasium renovation project in Lam-an, Ozamiz City.
The report noted that the relationship between father and daughter falls within the third civil degree of consanguinity, which prohibits transactions under Section 47 of the Revised Implementing Rules and Regulations of R.A. No. 9184 or the Government Procurement Reform Act.
A fact-finding inquiry was conducted, and a formal complaint was filed in 2014. Parojinog Sr. then moved to dismiss the case because the facts charged did not constitute an offense.
On April 7, 2017, the Sandiganbayan granted Parohinog’s motion to dismiss the case for violation of the accused’s constitutional right to a speedy disposition of cases because it took five years and 11 months of investigation before the case has reached the court.
READ: Graft raps vs Parojinogs junked due to inordinate delay
A motion for reconsideration was filed by the Special Prosecutor but was denied, prompting the case to be taken to the high court.
In reversing the Sandiganbayan decision, the Court said Parojinogs’ right to a speedy disposition of cases had not been violated. Moreover, the period for the fact-finding investigation before taking the case in court cannot be considered “inordinate delay.”
“This is so because, during this period, respondents were not yet exposed to adversarial proceedings, but only for the purpose of determining whether a formal complaint against them should be filed based on the result of the fact-finding investigation,” the Court said.
“Therefore, the reckoning point to determine if there had been inordinate delay should start to run from the filing of the formal complaint with the Office of the Ombudsman-Mindanao on December 8, 2014, up to the filing of the Information on November 23, 2016.”
“We find that the period from the filing of the formal complaint to the subsequent conduct of the preliminary investigation was not attended by vexatious, capricious, and oppressive delays as would constitute a violation of respondents’ right to a speedy disposition of cases,” it added.
The Court further pointed out that the Parojinogs did not raise the issue of delay until the Ombudsman found probable cause to charge them in court.
Mayor Parojinog was killed in 2017, and the case against him had been extinguished. The Court said only Parojinog-Echavez will undergo trial. /ee