INQUIRER FILE PHOTO
MANILA, Philippines – A bill seeking to strengthen the Sandiganbayan has passed the committee level in the House of Representatives.
The House committees on appropriations and justice approved the bill improving the functional and structural organization of the anti-graft court “to enhance the public accountability weapon of the government against graft and corruption.”
Iloilo Rep. Niel Tupas Jr., chairman of the committee, said the Sandiganbayan’s capacity to complete the process of litigation – from filing of information to promulgation taking about seven years – undermines the legal maxim “Justice delayed is justice denied.”
Cavite Rep. Francis Gerald Abaya also said each division is only capable of holding two hearings for each case every two months.
The bill seeks, among others, to increase the number of Sandiganbayan divisions to seven from five, amending for this purpose Presidential Decree No. 1606, as amended.
The first five divisions will be stationed in the Metro Manila while the sixth division will be in Cebu City for cases from Visayas, and the seventh division in General Santos City for cases from Mindanao, the bill said.
Two justices, under the bill, will constitute a quorum for all divisions, and that if a quorum could not be met, the Presiding Justice may assign a member of another division as a special member of that division, to be determined on a strict rotation on the basis of the reverse order of precedence, and with all the rights and prerogatives of a regular member.
The measure also seeks to declog the dockets of the court and transfer smaller cases from the Sandiganbayan to the Regional Trial Courts.
To do this, the bill said regional trial courts will have exclusive jurisdiction on case information that does not allege any damage or bribe, or do alleges damage or bribe that are unquantifiable; or alleges damage or bribe not more than P1 million.
The bill wants the Sandiganbayan to have jurisdiction over cases involving the following: Violations of Republic Act No. 3019, as amended, otherwise known as the Anti-Graft and Corruption Practices Act, and Republic Act No. 1379, and Chapter II, Section 2, Title VII of the Revised Penal Code; Other offenses or felonies whether simple or complex with other crimes committed by the concerned public officials and employees in relation to their office; Civil and criminal cases filed pursuant to and in connection with Executive Order Nos. 1, 2, 14 and 14-A, issued in 1986.
When there are two or more cases ready for trial, a member of a division may be designated to hear evidence and resolve incidents on that day, the bill further said.
The authors of the bill are Representative Francis Gerald Abaya (1st District, Cavite), Rep. Romero Quimbo (2nd District, Marikina City), Reps. Rufus Rodriguez (2nd District, Cagayan de Oro City) and his brother Maximo Rodriguez (Party-list, Abante Mindanao), and Rep. Niel Tupas, Jr. (5th District, Iloilo).