Sandigan junks ex-Lanao solon's appeal to dismiss graft raps

The Sandiganbayan Fourth Division has denied the appeal of former Lanao del Sur Rep. Faysah Dumarpa seeking the dismissal of her graft cases in relation to the infamous pork barrel scam.

Dumarpa petitioned the anti-graft court to drop the charges filed against her by the Ombudsman, arguing that the latter violated her constitutional rights to due process and to speedy disposition of the cases as it took 15 years to find probable cause before indicting her in 2020.

She contended that the prolonged time spent on the preliminary investigation was “vexatious, capricious and oppressive” on her part.

But the prosecution did not buy Dumarpa’s ratiocinations. It said the erstwhile lawmaker reckoned the date of the purported delay from the date of the alleged illegal transaction in 2008 and not on the date when the complaint was filed before the Sandiganbayan in 2020.

Further, it contended that if there was a delay, Dumarpa was to blame because she failed to invoke her right in a timely manner because she only filed the appeal after she had been arraigned.

Dumarpa was among the numerous former members of the House of Representatives implicated in the anomalous pork barrel or the Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) scam, a scheme of funding nonexistent projects.

In denying the appeal, the Sandiganbayan ruled that the Ombudsman took only two years and nine months to complete the preliminary investigation, which it stressed was clearly beyond the prescribed period of two years.

“Thus, the prosecution has the burden of proving that there is no violation of the right speedy disposition of the cases,” it said.

Furthermore, it emphasized that the case involves PDAF, which “require numerous respondents and voluminous records which justify the period it took to resolve the preliminary investigation of the cases.”

“In conclusion, the belated assertion of the right taken with the complexity of the cases justify the prolonged period to resolve the preliminary investigation of the cases,” the court said.