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Manila Bulletin devider Philippines devider National devider Ombudsman's special prosecutor has authority to handle ill-gotten wealth cases -- Sandiganbayan

Ombudsman's special prosecutor has authority to handle ill-gotten wealth cases -- Sandiganbayan

Published Mar 11, 2025 03:06 am

The Sandiganbayan has denied the disqualification of the Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP) of the Office of the Ombudsman (OMB) in handling the civil forfeiture case filed against businessman Ernest de Leon Escaler.

Office of the Ombudsman 1.jpg

Escaler is a respondent in the civil case docketed as SB-14-CVL-0002 for forfeiture of unlawfully acquired properties under Republic Act No. 1379.

The other respondents in the case are former justice secretary Hernando "Nani" B. Perez, Perez’s wife Rosario, and his brother-in-law Ramon Antonio Arceo Jr.

Escaler filed an omnibus motion on July 12, 2024 seeking to disqualify the OSP from further appearing in the proceedings and to expunge from the records all the pleadings and documents filed by it for lack of legal authority.

He said there is a "categorical declaration" made by the Supreme Court (SC) that the OMB's special prosecutor is not allowed to file and prosecute forfeiture cases provided for under RA 1379.

The Sandiganbayan found Escaler's arguments "highly misplaced" and clarified that the SC's ruling in Republic vs Sandiganbayan takes note of the time the cases were filed.

"It is the considered opinion of the SC that it is the Solicitor General who should file the petition for forfeiture in cases of unlawfully acquired wealth amassed before Feb. 25, 1986. Nonetheless, it held that the authority of the Ombudsman to exercise its correlative powers to both investigate and initiate the proper action for recovery of ill-gotten and/or unexplained wealth is restricted to cases for the recovery of ill-gotten and/or unexplained wealth which were amassed after Feb. 25, 1986," it explained.

The anti-graft court likeswise cited RA 6770, the Ombudsman Act of 1989, which was enacted to provide for the functional and structural organization of the OMB.

"It is clear from the foregoing provision that the OSP is not only vested with the power to conduct preliminary investigation and prosecute criminal cases within the jurisdiction of the Sandiganbayan and to enter into plea bargaining agreements; it is also vested with the power to perform other duties assigned to it by the Ombudsman," the court added.

It pointed out that the forfeiture case is not incompatible with the OSP's function as an organic component of the Ombudsman.

The 15-page resolution was written by Associate Justice Ronald B. Moreno with the concurrence of Chairperson Associate Justice Karl B. Miranda and Associate Justice Bernelito R. Fernandez.

The case stemmed from the alleged demand made by Perez for $2 million from former Manila congressman Mario Crespo, more popularly known as Mark Jimenez, back in 2001.

The money was supposedly in exchange for the exclusion of Jimenez in the plunder investigation against former President Joseph "Erap" Estrada over the multi-billion Caliraya-Botocan-Kalayaan (CBK) power plant project.

Related Tags

Sandiganbayan Ombudsman Office of the Ombudsman forfeiture case
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