Dismissal of high-profile cases not due to change in admin, says Sandigan
There may have been a spate of dismissals of high-profile cases by the Sandiganbayan recently, but Presiding Justice Amparo Cabotaje-Tang said these were not due to the assumption to office of the Duterte administration.
In a rare press briefing, Tang said the antigraft court is always guided by the evidence, even when a corruption case ends in a dismissal or acquittal.
President Duterte is known to be friendly with some politicians who had been charged in high-profile corruption cases, most notably former President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, who is currently House Deputy Speaker.
But Tang stressed that, as was the case in the transition to the Aquino administration, ôthe Court will never be swayed by change in governments.
Strict adherence
“Please disabuse your minds na simply because there is a change in administration, magbabago na rin pananaw namin sa ebidensya (Please disabuse your minds that simply because there is a change in administration, our view of the evidence will change, too),ö Tang told reporters.
She said the magistrates ôadhere strictly to the requirement that whenever they enter judgments or promulgate resolutions, it should be based on what is before us, meaning, the evidence that is before us.ö
Asked about the timing of the string of dismissals, Tang said: ôNagkataon lang na, na there has been change in, you know, the leadership (It just so happened that there has been change in, you know, the leadership).ö
The Supreme Court ordered Arroyo freed in July and dismissed the P366-million plunder case against her over the alleged misuse of the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office’s confidential intelligence funds.
A month later, the Sandiganbayan Fourth Division handed Arroyo another legal victory by dismissing the graft cases against her in connection with the scuttled $329-million national broadband network deal with China’s ZTE Corp.
Former Commission on Elections chair Benjamin Abalos was cleared of criminal charges alongside Arroyo. The court affirmed the NBN-ZTE rulings with finality in November.
The cases were dismissed on demurrer, meaning they were junked midway through trial as the prosecution was deemed to have presented insufficient evidence.
