THE trial of the graft case against the former general manager of the Mactan Cebu International Airport Authority (MCIAA) and two others before the Sandiganbayan will continue.

This, after the anti-graft court’s Third Division dismissed for lack of merit the motions to dismiss the case filed by former Mactan airport manager Adelberto Yap and his two co-respondents, who claimed a delay in the proceedings before the Office of the Ombudsman.

“In sum, the court does not find the delay in the proceedings before the ombudsman to be vexatious, arbitrary, capricious or oppressive,” read the resolution penned by Associate Justice Amparo Cabotaje-Tang.

Yap’s co-respondents are Marlon Barillo of the private firm Asia Border/Zeigler; and Maria Venus Casas, former Mactan airport division accounting manager.

The case stemmed from the complaint filed by businessman Cris Saavedra, who supposedly won a bidding at the MCIAA but failed to get the account, as this was given to somebody else.

In their pleading, the respondents argued the Ombudsman probed the case early in 2005 and filed it in court in November 2016.

The respondents argued that the nearly 12-year delay in the case proceedings constituted “inordinate delay.”

In the resolution, the Sandiganbayan found the respondents’ motions “not meritorious.”

“The court does not find arbitrary the delay on the part of the Office of the Ombudsman,” the Sandiganbayan said.