Ombudsman: P600B may be lost over dismissed cases' inordinate delay

Ombudsman Jesus Crispin Remulla is verifying information given to him that P600 billion in public funds was lost over the courts' dismissal of cases due to inordinate delay, saying such a situation is not always the fault of government prosecutors.

"I got word that the government lost close to P600 billion pesos in cases because [of dismissal due to] inordinate delay. And I'm reviewing that. I will see if that is true. We will quantify the losses of the government due to case dismissals because of inordinate delay in the prosecution of cases," Remulla said in a press conference.

"'Yun po yung talaga ikokorek natin (We really have to correct that). That's why, as I always say in the DOJ, the deadline is always yesterday. Every day is important and every working day has to be filled with goals achieved for the day at least. Dapat gan'un na ang attitude namin dito sa Office of the Ombudsman (That should be our attitude here in the Office of the Ombudsman)," Remulla added, referring to his previous stint as secretary of the Department of Justice.

Having said that, Remulla said he would implement a new policy which reduces the timeframe for the evaluation of a complaint to within 72 hours or three days, and the preliminary investigation to 60 days.

Prior to his investigation, Remulla said the timeframe for evaluation of a complaint, fact-finding and preliminary investigation could inexplicably take years.

"P600 billion worth of cases lost due to inordinate delay. We have to review it, of course. But it's very alarming and I would say that it may be true," Remulla said.

"'Yung mga losses ng government due to nonfeasance. Kasi hindi natin ginagawa 'yung duty natin, we don't go all out [in prosecuting the cases], dapat tumigil na 'yan," the Ombudsman said.

(Government losses due to nonfeasance happened because we didn't do our duty. We didn't go all out [in prosecuting cases]. That should stop.)

"We have to stop this habit. Dapat mayroon tayong way of tracing who is responsible for what. 'Yun ang isa sa ginagawa natin," Remulla added.

(We should have a way of tracing who is responsible for what. This is one of the actions we are taking.)

Further, Remulla said government prosecutors should not be faulted for dilatory tactics of defense counsels. 

"If it was the defense counsel who is delaying the case, asking for the resetting of the trial of cases, what does this mean? Should the government be faulted for this? Dapat hindi bibilangin sa gobyerno 'yun (This should not be blamed on the government)," Remulla added. — VDV, GMA Integrated News