KIDAPAWAN CITY – The Supreme Court has acquitted Cotabato Governor Nancy Alaan Catamco from three graft charges that were filed against her and her estranged husband Pompey Perez due to the prosecution’s failure to prove sufficient justification for the delay in the speedy disposition of these cases.

In 2012, Catamco was charged with graft – almost six years after the Commission on Audit (CoA) found overpricing and other irregularities in the purchase of the municipal government of Poro in Cebu of at least 3,340 bottles of liquid Vitacrop biochemical fertilizers from Perzebros Corporation.

At that time, Catamco and Perez were owners of Perzebros, both private citizens. 

The complaint alleged that there was a shortage of 225 bottles delivered to the Poro mayor; that the macronutrient specifications in that label were not met when the fertilizers were subjected to laboratory testing; and that based on the canvass conducted from other suppliers of fertilizers, the Vitacrop contract was overpriced by 1,092 percent, among others.

Also included in the charge sheet were former Poro mayor Edgar Rama, and top officials of the LGU’s Bids and Awards Committee.

In July 19, 2013, the Ombudsman directed the respondents to submit their counter-affidavits, which they did from September 12, 2014 up to May 20, 2015.

Two years later, the Ombudsman issued a resolution finding probable cause to indict Catamco, Perez, Rama, and other respondents.

The charges included one count for violation of Section 3(e) of Republic Act 3019, and two counts of malversation under Article 217 of the Revised Penal Code.  The resolution was approved on August 1, 2017.

The respondents filed motions for reconsideration on August 23, 2017; September 25, 2017; and September 28, 2017, respectively.   These motions, however, were denied in an order dated November 10, 2017 and approved on January 18, 2018.   Four months later, the corresponding information were filed before the Sandiganbayan.

Court records showed that before the arraignment, Catamco and Perez moved for the dismissal of the case against them, claiming that the Ombudsman’s inordinate delay of more than 12 years from the conduct of the investigation in 2006 until the filing the information in court, “violated their constitutional right to speedy disposition of cases.

Court records added that based on its Consolidated Comment Opposition, the Ombudsman argued that the time it took to conclude an investigation of the case can’t be considered an, ‘inordinate delay’ because the need to meticulously review and evaluate the numerous records and considering the fact that a speedy stream of cases reaches the Ombudsman.

On August 7, 2018, the Sandiganbayan denied petitioners’ respective motions.

Based on the court’s ruling, the consolidated petitions of respondents Catamco and Perez were impressed with merit. 

The Higher Court ruled that the Sandiganbayan gravely abused its discretion in denying petitioners’ respective motions to dismiss for violation of their right to speedy disposition of cases.

“Wherefore, the consolidated petitions were hereby granted.   The assailed resolutions dated August 7, 2018 and October 12, 2018 of the Sixth Division of the Sandiganbayan are annulled and set aside.  The Sandiganbayan was ordered to dismiss Criminal Case Number SB-18-CRM-0337, SB-18-CRM-0338, and SB-18-CRM-0339 for violation of petitioners’ constitutional right to speedy disposition of case,” it explained.

Catamco, when asked of her comment on the dismissal of charges filed against her, said that she felt vindicated and that she now has an undivided attention to making the province of North Cotabato a better place to live in.