Sandigan affirms malversation raps vs ex-DAR director

MANILA, Philippines — The Sandiganbayan has denied the appeal of a former director of the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) office in Caraga to dismiss the malversation charges filed against him over his unliquidated cash advances amounting to P184,904.

In a resolution released yesterday, the anti-graft court’s sixth division said Yusoph Mama failed to raise any new argument in his motion to warrant the reversal of its Sept. 18 decision denying his earlier bid to dismiss the case.

“The arguments raised... are mere rehash and reiterations... which were... passed upon by this court... This court sees no need to address each argument anew,” the court ruling read.

Filed by the Office of the Ombudsman in January, the case stemmed from Mama’s alleged failure to liquidate the cash advances despite repeated demands.

In his motion for reconsideration, Mama said the case should be dismissed, noting that the ombudsman violated his constitutional right to a speedy resolution of the case when it took the agency more than four years to finish its investigation before filing a case before the Sandiganbayan.

Mama said the delay was unjustified and resulted in the “impairment” of his defense.

However, the Sandiganbayan said the time spent by the ombudsman in its preliminary investigation was “reasonable” considering that the case involves 28 cash advances from Aug. 28, 1997 to Feb. 18, 1999.

“There is no showing that documents necessary to establish his defense are no longer available. There were no names of witnesses who could no longer recall or are having difficulty in recalling incidents... in support of his defense,” the court said.