THE Sandiganbayan’s Fifth Division has denied the prosecution’s request to merge the graft and malversation charges filed against former Ako Bicol party-list representative Zaldy Co. and several Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) officials linked to an allegedly irregular road dike project in Oriental Mindoro.
In a resolution dated December 10, the anti-graft court ruled that the constitutional right of the accused to a speedy trial outweighs the government’s argument for administrative efficiency.
“While consolidation is often invoked to speed up case disposition and conserve resources, these benefits cannot supersede the right to a speedy trial and the constitutional protection of life, liberty, or property,” Associate Justice Zaldy Trespeses wrote in the decision.
The ruling sided with multiple DPWH Region IV-B officials, Gene Altea, Ruben Santos Jr., Dominic Serrano, Montrexis Tamayo, Juliet Calvo, Dennis Abagon, and Lerma Cayco, who said consolidation would slow down the bail hearings in the malversation case.
The officials argued that bail proceedings involve their fundamental right to liberty, which should take precedence over any logistical advantage claimed by the prosecution.
They also stressed that the two offenses involve “entirely different elements,” and combining them could muddle evidence and burden the court.
This decision effectively reverses an earlier ruling by the Sandiganbayan’s Sixth Division, headed by Associate Justice Sarah Fernandez, which had granted the prosecution’s plea to consolidate the cases on the grounds that separate trials would be “redundant, costly, and time-consuming.”