Sandiganbayan dismisses graft raps vs ex-DAR chief Pagdanganan

The Sandiganbayan on Thursday dismissed the graft and malversation cases against former Agrarian Reform Secretary Roberto Pagdanganan in connection with the alleged misuse of P30-million meant to develop the coconut industry in Quezon. 

 

Citing inordinate delays in the Office of the Ombudsman’s investigation, the anti-graft court invalidated the complaint in its resolution. 

 

“There appears to be no justifiable basis as to why the Office of the Ombudsman could not have earlier resolved the preliminary investigation proceedings,” the anti-graft court’s Second Division said in a resolution granting Pagdanganan’s motion to quash the case. 

 

Pagdanganan and five others were slapped with graft and malversation charges for the alleged fraudulent investment of millions of pesos in government funds in a private corporation in 2004.

 

The six had been accused of diverting some P30 million for their own personal benefit, according to the information Assistant Special Prosecutor Jorge Espinal filed with the Sandiganbayan.

 

However, the Sandiganbayan said that while the Office of the Ombudsman received the complaint against Pagdanganan in July 2004, the office only issued a resolution finding probable cause in July 2011, a whole seven years after the fact.

 

The delay meant Pagdanganan’s right to speedy justice was violated, the Sandiganbayan said.

 

“The Ombudsman has the inherent duty not only to go through the particulars of the case but also to resolve the same within the proper length of time. Its dutiful performance should not only be gauged by the quality of the assessment but by the reasonable promptness of its dispensation,” the court said.

 

"Under the circumstances, the delay largely remains unjustified," the court added.

 

The same division of the anti-graft court earlier junked the graft case against former Cavite Governor Erineo "Ayong" Maliksi for similar reasons. — Patricia Denise Chiu/JDS, GMA News