Sandigan allows consolidation of Mamasapano cases

MANILA, Philippines — The Third Division of the anti-graft court Sandiganbayan, chaired by Presiding Justice Amparo Cabataje-Tang, has relinquished its jurisdiction over the criminal cases against former President Benigno Aquino III in connection with 2015 Mamasapano incident.

In a hearing Friday afternoon, the Third Division granted in open court the Office of the Ombudsman's motion praying for the transfer of Aquino's cases to the Fourth Division.

“Finding the grounds raised in the motion to be meritorious, the same motion is hereby granted,” Tang, an appointee of Aquino, said.

The Third Division made the ruling after Aquino's lawyer Joseph De Jesus said his client will no longer file a comment on the ombudsman's motion and will just submit to the decision of the court.

In its motion filed on November 23, the ombudsman's Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP) said the cases against Aquino must be consolidated with pending cases before the Fourth Division filed in 2016 against former Philippine National Police chief Alan Purisima and former PNP-Special Action Force director Getulio Napeñas Jr.

The prosecution said that since all the cases stemmed from a single incident, their consolidation is in order to accord the respondents “the benefit of saving time and litigation costs considering that they will appear before a single court which shall hear the totality of the Mamasapano Incident.”

“In the same manner, the prosecution will not be unduly burdened with the separate presentation of the same witnesses and same set of documents before two different courts trying virtually the same case,” the prosecution added.

The cases against the three former officials involve one count each of violation of Republic Act 3019 or the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices and usurpation of official functions under Article 177 of the Revised Penal Code.

The cases stemmed from Aquino's alleged act of allowing then suspended PNP chief Purisima to participate in the planning and implementation of Oplan Exodus, a botched police operation aimed to neutralize Malaysian terrorist Zulkifli bin Hir alias Marwan and Filipino bomb maker Abdul Basit Usman.

The operation resulted in the death of over 60 people including 44 members of the PNP-SAF.

The cases against Aquino were filed by the ombudsman on November 8 of this year while the cases against Purisima and Napeñas were filed in December last year.

The cases against Aquino were raffled off on November 10 and went to the Third Division chaired by Tang.

Tang was appointed by Aquino as an associate justice of the Sandiganbayan in 2012 and just after a year, was appointed as the presiding justice besting all the other senior magistrates of the anti-graft court.

Aside from Tang, the Third Division is composed of senior member Associate Justice Bernelito Fernandez and sitting member Sarah Jane Fernandez.

Bernelito Fernandez, a former Quezon City Regional Trial Court judge, was appointed by the President Rodrigo Duterte at the Sandiganbayan in December last year.

Sarah Jane Fernandez, an appointee of Aquino, is the chairperson of the court's Sixth Division and is just serving as a “warm body” for the Third Division as Duterte has yet to fill in four vacant positions at the Sandiganbayan.

The Fourth Division, meanwhile, is chaired by Associate Justice Alex Quiroz, an appointee of former president and incumbent Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.

The Fourth Division is also composed of senior member Associate Justice Reynaldo Cruz and junior member Associate Justice Bayani Jacinto. Cruz was appointed by Aquino in January 2016 shortly before the end of his presidency while Jacinto was appointed by President Rodrigo Dutere in May of this year.