Intimidation case vs Bogo officials junked for delay

It may have been proper for the Office of the Ombudsman to indict three Bogo City politicians for allegedly intimidating their rival in the 2010 elections, but for the Sandiganbayan, the Ombudsman slept for too long on the case.

The court’s Special Fourth Division, in a 10-page resolution dated March 2, dismissed the grave coercion case filed against Liberal Party stalwart and former Bogo City Mayor Celestino Martinez, Jr., his son and incumbent Mayor Jose Carlo Martinez, and former Vice Mayor Santiago Sevilla.

The case arose from the standoff during the May  2010 elections, when the officials allegedly ordered uniformed members of the Bogo Anti-Crime Task Force to block the convoy of Cebu Rep. Benhur Salimbagon from leaving Polambato Elementary School.

At the time, Salimbagon had just defeated the elder Martinez’s son, Celestino Martinez III. Ombudsman prosecutors blamed the delay on the “voluminous” case records forwarded by the justice department. —Vince F. Nonato