Ombudsman boasts 100-percent conviction rate this month

MANILA, Philippines – The government has claimed continuous improvement in its campaign to run after and pin down corrupt officials as the conviction rate in cases filed by the Office of the Ombudsman with the Sandiganbayan is expected to soar to another record-high this month.

Ombudsman Ma. Merceditas Gutierrez said they have secured a conviction rate of 100 percent coming into the first half of September, winning all 43 cases filed before the anti-graft court.

Gutierrez said this month’s cases brought to 82 out of 172 cases the total number of convictions obtained by the Ombudsman so far this year, a 47.67 percent cumulative conviction rate from January to September.

Among the controversial cases successfully handled by the Ombudsman in September were those of Reps. Rodolfo Valencia and Alfonso Umali Jr. of Oriental Mindoro and Mayor Wilfredo Dugayon of Pinukpuk town in Kalinga.

Valencia and Umali were convicted of graft by the fourth division of the Sandiganbayan last Tuesday along with former Oriental Mindoro vice governor Pedrito Reyes and former provincial board members Jose Enriquez and Jose Leynes for misusing public funds amounting to P2.5 million during their term at the provincial capitol 15 years ago.

The case stemmed from the anomalous contract entered into by the provincial government of Oriental Mindoro for the grant of a P2.5-million loan to a private individual to finance the repair, operation and maintenance of his vessel in 1993.

It was filed before the Sandiganbayan in April 1997 by then Ombudsman Aniano Desierto.

The Oriental Mindoro officials were all sentenced to imprisonment of up to ten years and the accessory penalty of perpetual disqualification from holding public office.

Dugayon, on the other hand, was convicted by the anti-graft court the other day of 21 counts of violation of Batas Pambansa Blg. 22 (Anti-Bouncing Check Law) and Other Deceits under Article 318 of the Revised Penal Code (RPC).

The mayor was sentenced to three years imprisonment along with his co-accused, former municipal treasurer Corazon Achivara.

Last month, the Ombudsman reported a conviction rate of 73.08 percent after winning 19 out of 26 cases decided by the anti-graft court.

For the month of July, the office reached a 71.43-percent conviction rate after securing convictions in five out of seven cases.

“The July 2008 conviction rate is higher by 31.43 percent compared to the 40 percent conviction rate obtained by the Office of the Ombudsman in July 2007. Likewise, the August 2008 conviction rate is 29.34 percent higher than the 46.66 percent conviction rate garnered by the Office for the same month last year,” the Ombudsman said in a statement.

Gutierrez said this should inspire prosecutors to double their efforts to weed out corrupt and erring officials in the government.

However, she admitted that low conviction rates were recorded in the first semester of the year.

In January, the Ombudsman registered a conviction rate of 25 percent, 9.01 percent in February, 4.54 percent in April, 3.33 percent in May and 7.14 percent in June. The office only improved its conviction rate in March when it got 66.67 percent.