THE lawyer of City Mayor Oscar Moreno on Thursday, July 5, said the dismissal of the Moreno’s graft case at the Sandiganbayan First Division may have a “persuasive” effect on the other 23 pending cases at the anti-graft court.
Lawyer Dale Mordeno said they already submitted a manifestation which will inform all other Sandiganbayan Divisions where Moreno's cases are distributed, that the First Division has already rendered a decision that dismissed one graft case of Moreno due to inordinate delay.
“The inordinate delay puts into limelight the practice of the Ombudsman in the handling of anti-graft cases against public officials. The Sandiganbayan said an inordinate delay is unreasonable in the prosecution of the cases against the accused with the 1987 Constitution saying that the accused has the right to a speedy disposition of their cases,” Mordeno aid.
Mordeno said that although the inordinate delay might not be the basis for all the Sandiganbayan divisions to dismiss the rest of the cases, there is however a chance that this could influence the remaining 23 resolutions.
“I think it will not happen that the other divisions will have different interpretations to the inordinate delay doctrine, but that's precisely why we also want these cases to be consolidated to avoid discordance, conflicting orders or decisions,” he added.
Moreno said the Sandiganbayan resolution was redeeming and vindicating.
“Setting aside all the legal aspect, the motive behind this move to demolish me is all about politics. Because they could not level with the kind of service that I rendered, they aim to destroy me instead,” Moreno said of his opponents.
The inordinate delay doctrine are usually used by the accused to dismiss their cases which took a long time for the Office of the Ombudsman to investigate and file before the court. This doctrine is currently being questioned by the Ombudsman before the Supreme Court.