How to solve 'inordinate delay' in Ombudsman cases? Applicants weigh in

Faced by the questioning of the Judicial and Bar Council (JBC), three candidates for the post on Wednesday weighed in on the "inordinate delay" many cases before the Office of the Ombudsman fall prey to.

Former Sandiganbayan justice and incumbent Supreme Court (SC) justice Samuel Martires, former Sandiganbayan presiding justice and current Special Prosecutor Edilberto Sandoval, and incumbent Sandiganbayan justice Efren dela Cruz are among the 10 individuals aspiring to succeed Ombudsman Conchita Carpio Morales, who retires in July.

During their respective interviews by the JBC, they said they would like to address the slow disposition cases filed before the anti-graft Office of the Ombudsman. 

Martires acknowledged the delay, citing the case of his co-applicant Dela Cruz, who he said only recently learned of a case that was filed against him 13 years ago.

"What is really wrong in the fact-finding office of the Office of the Ombudsman? I think during fact-finding investigation, the cases that are filed should not be docketed so that [they] will no longer be the subject or a ground for a motion to dismiss on the ground of inordinate delay," he said.

Even manually, fact-finding office staff could be asked to submit monthly reports on the status of the cases they are investigating, he added.

Martires is President Rodrigo Duterte's first appointee to the SC. He will retire next January, shortly two years after he assumed the post.

Sandoval

"I would like to settle that inordinate delay, Your Honors. Hundreds of cases we filed with the Sandiganbayan and with regular courts have been dismissed due to inordinate delay," Sandoval said.

"I was studying the cases, Your Honors, the Sandiganbayan and the Supreme Court. Their yardstick in the timeline of cases is not uniform," he added.

Last year, the Office of the Ombudsman petitioned the SC to set standards and guidelines on what characterizes "inordinate delay," a ground for the dismissal of cases due to its violation of a person's right to the speedy disposition of cases.

Sandoval was pulled out of retirement to be the Special Prosecutor at the Office of the Ombudsman. He assumed the post last year.

Dela Cruz

Dela Cruz, for his part, plans to identify "choke points" in the Ombudsman's case disposition system for proper remedy, he said.

"I think I will have to conduct an inventory of cases to determine the choke points [on] why there are such delays there and to propose or implement measures to avoid the choke points," he explained, also suggesting that prosecutors with the Ombudsman ought to be trained more for improved case handling.

Dela Cruz chairs the First Division of the Sandiganbayan. His application for Ombudsman, however, may be at risk due to a pending disbarment case against him in connection with an issuance he made as corporate secretary of a steel mill company in 1997.

He would be disqualified from the candidacy for Ombudsman if the case remains unresolved by the time the JBC conducts its deliberations. "I leave everything to God," he told the JBC. —JST, GMA News