Deluge of pork scam cases lowers Sandigan’s disposal rate

THE disposition of cases by the Sandiganbayan slowed down in 2014 or after the filing of the plunder and graft charges against three senators and other people over the alleged pork barrel scam, the court’s presiding justice said Thursday.

In a text message, Presiding Justice Amparo Cabotaje-Tang said the disposal rate in 2014 was lower compared to the previous year, largely due to the deluge of graft and plunder cases filed with the court against lawmakers accused of misusing their Priority Development Assistance Funds (PDAF) or the pork barrel.

Apparently, the accused lawmakers’ legal maneuvering is also slowing down the court’s proceedings and adjudication of cases.

“The Sandiganbayan disposal rate of last year is lower than the prior year. This is largely attributable to the deluge of PDAF-related cases where several incidents had to be resolved a priori to get the cases moving,” Tang said.

She said though that the court disposed of a significant number of cases from January to April this year.

According to the court statistics of cases, the court disposed of 277 of the 3,370 cases in 2014, lower than the 480 cases disposed of the 3,342 caseload in 2013.

This shows that the disposal rate in 2014 was at 8.22 percent, lower than the 14.363 percent in 2013.

The statistics also show that from January to April this year, the court disposed of 129 cases already of the 3,233 caseload.

The presiding justice made the statement on the day of the antigraft court’s 37th anniversary and one year after the court received the plunder and graft charges against Senators Ramon Revilla Jr., Jose “Jinggoy” Estrada and Juan Ponce Enrile.

The hearings on the pork barrel scam have resulted in the detention of Estrada, Revilla, as well as former representatives Rizalina Seachon Lanete and Edgar Valdez. Enrile, meanwhile, is under hospital detention.

The accused mastermind Janet Lim-Napoles, meanwhile, is serving life sentence after being convicted of serious illegal detention of Benhur Luy, the principal whistleblower and her entrusted finance officer who turned his back on her and blew the lid off the alleged scheme of amassing millions in kickbacks from PDAF allocations. AC