Former Palawan Gov. Joel Reyes
Update
The Sandiganbayan has dismissed the fertilizer fund scam charges against former Palawan governor Joel Reyes due to the Ombudsman’s inordinate delay in investigating the case.
In a resolution promulgated May 8, the antigraft court Fifth Division said the Office of the Ombudsman committed unreasonable delays in investigating Reyes’ graft case.
The court said it must dismiss the case as it did in the cases of Reyes’ co-accused: Department of Agriculture’s regional technical director Rodolfo Guieb and regional executive director Dennis Araullo. The Ombudsman had violated the rights of Guieb and Araullo to the speedy disposition of their cases, the Sandiganbayan said.
The dismissal came as Reyes sought the quashing of the case.
READ: Ex-Palawan Gov. Joel Reyes seeks dismissal of fertilizer scam case
“Involving as it does the same set of facts and circumstances… this Court is constrained to find that there was likewise inordinate delay in the investigation and resolution of accused Reyes’ case on the part of the Office of the Ombudsman,” the court said.
“As such, accused Reyes’ constitutional right to speedy disposition of cases, like Guieb’s and Araullo’s, was violated,” it added.
The Sandiganbayan said nothing happened in the case from Aug. 2011 to April 2014, from the time the last batches of the counter-affidavits were filed before the Ombudsman until the Ombudsman special panel recommended the amendment of the complaint. The charges were formally filed before the Sandiganbayan in Sept. 2016.
“From the foregoing, by itself, the time that this case spent pending preliminary investigation with the Ombudsman already reeks of inordinate delay,” the court said.
Reyes was accused of causing undue injury to government when he failed to review the accreditation of the nongovernment organization Masaganang Ani Para sa Magsasaka Foundation (Mamfi), which was not eligible to implement the fertilizer project and was later found to be bogus.
READ: Ex-Palawan Gov. Joel Reyes: No probable cause to sue me for graft
Reyes, who is detained while facing trial the murder of broadcaster Gerry Ortega, was charged with graft for allegedly giving undue benefit to Mamfi in the purchase of 3,240 bottles of liquid fertilizers worth P3.25 million without public bidding in 2004.
Prosecutors said Reyes acted with manifest partiality, evident bad faith or gross inexcusable negligence when it gave unwarranted benefits to Mamfi.
READ: Prosecutors nix Reyes’ bid to junk fertilizer fund scam case
Charged with Reyes was Mamfi president Marina Sula, who testified as a witness in the plunder and graft trial of former senators Ramon Revilla Jr., Jose “Jinggoy” Estrada, Juan Ponce Enrile, and former representatives implicated in the Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) scam allegedly masterminded by businesswoman Janet Lim-Napoles.
READ: Ex-Palawan Gov Reyes, PDAF scam witness charged with graft
Sula is a property custodian of Napoles, who was accused of creating bogus foundations under the names of her employees.
Apart from Araullo and Guieb, both from the Department of Agriculture-Regional Unit IV, also charged was Nathaniel Tan, a representative of Mamfi.
The charges stemmed from the anomalous implementation of the 2004 Farm Inputs and Farm Implements Program during the administration of former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.
READ: Reyes brothers in Ortega killing arrested in Thailand
Reyes and his brother former Coron Mayor Mario Reyes turned fugitive when they fled the country in March 2012 after they were indicted by the Department of Justice for allegedly masterminding the murder of Ortega in 2011. The hitman named the Reyes brothers as the masterminds of the killing.
READ: Reyes brothers lived in a villa, drove an SUV as fugitives
The brothers led a lavish lifestyle in Phuket, Thailand, before they were arrested by authorities on September 2015 for violation of immigration laws. They were deported to Manila, where they were detained at the Puerto Princesa city jail for murder.
The younger Reyes had been granted bail.
READ: Ortega murder: Ex-Coron Mayor Reyes granted bail | Joel Reyes’ bid for bail rejected
The dismissal of Reyes’ case due to inordinate delay adds to the list of 26 criminal cases junked by the Sandiganbayan due to this doctrine now legally questioned by the Ombudsman before the Supreme Court.
Ombudsman Conchita Carpio Morales has lamented the spate of dismissed cases due to this doctrine, a jurisprudence set by the Supreme Court.
The anti-graft court usually accounts for the period starting from the filing of complaint, the fact-finding, the preliminary investigation, until the filing of complaint.
But Ombudsman Morales said the period of investigation should only cover the preliminary stage, where the respondents are already asked to file their counter-affidavits to the charges imputed against them.
READ: Define ‘inordinate delay,’ Ombudsman asks SC | Ombudsman may refile graft cases if SC redefines ‘inordinate delay’