Sandiganbayan given 3 days to comment on special courts on pork scam

Sandiganbayan building facade. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines—The Supreme Court ordered Sandiganbayan and all parties involved, including those charged with plunder, to comment on the request of the Ombudsman for the creation of  special divisions in the Sandiganbayan.

The Ombudsman said the special courts would exclusively try the cases filed and will be filed regarding the Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) scam.

During Tuesday’s en banc, the high court gave all parties three days to submit their comment.

In her letter, Morales cited the “national magnitude of these cases, the complexities of the issues involved, the number of accused and the far-reaching consequences of these cases.”

Morales, invoked in her letter the Constitution and the Revised Internal Rules of the Sandiganbayan, the letter cited as precedent the high court’s Jan. 21, 2002 Resolution in A.M. No. 02-1-07-SC that created a Special Division of the Sandiganbayan to exclusively hear, try and decide, with dispatch, the plunder case and all related cases filed against former President Joseph Ejercito Estrada and his co-accused.
 

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