Sandigan new divisions won’t declog caseload

THE two new divisions in the Sandiganbayan will not declog the caseload before the antigraft court, not even the plunder, graft and malversation cases over the pork barrel scam allegedly perpetrated by Janet Lim-Napoles, unless the court amends its own internal rules, Presiding Justice Amparo Cabotaje-Tang said Thursday.

In a press conference, Tang said the eight Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) scam cases and other such cases will remain in their respective divisions even with the additional two divisions.

“(The PDAF cases) will remain to the current divisions they have been raffled to. That is pursuant to our internal rules. We cannot simply unload cases unless the chair of the division inhibits. That’s the only time the case is unloaded,” Tang said.

This after President Benigno Aquino III signed Republic Act No. 10660, which aims to strengthen the Sandiganbayan by adding two new divisions to the existing five divisions.

The new law also allows the Sandiganbayan to constitute a quorum with two of three justices per division who will be enough to render a judgment, doing away with forming a special division of five in instances of failing to meet the quorum.

Tang said Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno has already approved the creation of the two new divisions.

“I have not yet received officially a copy of approval but I was told it was also approved. Once that is approved, the Chief Justice will then have to ask the Judicial and Bar Council to open the positions for applications of the new justices. Of course, this will undergo the routine process of selecting applications… for the shortlist of nominees,” Tang said.

Tang said existing cases may be distributed to the new divisions only when the Sandiganbayan gets the Supreme Court’s nod to amend its own rules to allow redistribution of cases.

“That will be settled before the en banc. The Justices who compose the divisions at the time it was submitted for decision should participate in the deliberations. If we unload some of these, we have to amend our internal rules,” Tang said.

“So we really have to discuss these during our en banc and we would need Supreme Court approval should we depart from our internal rules,” she added.

While the law may not declog the antigraft court in its backlog of cases, it may lighten the load because according to the law, cases that do not involve damages to government or those that do allege damages but on amounts not exceeding P1 million will be under the jurisdiction of regional trial courts.

Tang said the court will request for P166.8 million budget for the year-long operation of the new divisions for the hiring of 66 new personnel, including the new Associate Justices, Clerks of Court, their staff, among others.

The Presiding Justice added that the court will request for additional budget to build the court rooms for the new divisions on the fifth floor of the Sandiganbayan building. She said she was hoping to finally finish the construction end of the year.

“Hopefully before the end of the year, everything will be in place, the offices spaces, and the justices will have been appointed,” Tang said.

Tang said senior Associate Justices Rodolfo Ponferrada and Alexander Gesmundo will chair the two additional divisions. The President will then appoint the two justice positions in the first and fifth divisions vacated by Ponferrada and Gesmundo.

The antigraft court is hearing five plunder cases involving Senators Ramon Revilla Jr., JinggoyEstrada, Juan Ponce Enrile, and former representatives Edgar Valdez and Rizalina Seachon-Lanete, as well as three malversation cases of former lawmakers Samuel Dangwa, Constantino Jaraula and Rodolfo Plaza over the alleged pork barrel scam. Also charged is Napoles, the accused architect of the scheme of using lawmakers’ PDAF to ghost projects for kickbacks.

They form part of the first batch of pork barrel scam cases, with a second batch underway involving malversation raps against senators and solons. AC

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