Sandiganbayan denies Bistek's appeal to dismiss graft case

Former Quezon City mayor Herbert Bautista. Fernando G. Sepe Jr., ABS-CBN News/file

MANILA — The Sandiganbayan 7th Division junked the bid of former Quezon City Mayor Herbert "Bistek" Bautista for the court to reconsider its denial of his motion for leave to file demurrer to evidence.

In a 14-page resolution, the anti-graft court said the appeal of Bautista “is not the proper remedy to question the denial of a motion for leave to file demurrer to evidence.”

It noted that the trial should proceed after it denied Bautista’s motion.

The prosecution shared this view, citing the 2000 Revised Rules of Criminal Procedure and jurisprudence, which does not allow Bautista’s motion for reconsideration.

According to Section 23 of Rule 119, “If the court denies the demurrer to evidence filed with leave of court, the accused may adduce evidence in his defense.”

It further states, “The order denying the motion for leave of court to file demurrer to evidence or the demurrer itself shall not be reviewable by appeal or by certiorari before judgment.”

Last March 18, Bautista filed an omnibus motion for partial reconsideration of the court’s March 8 resolution, seeking permission to file his demurrer to evidence.

The former mayor again questioned the sufficiency of the prosecution’s evidence.

However, the 7th Division said its denial of Bautista’s motion will check if the evidence can sustain a conviction.

“Accused Bautista would rather that a judgment on the merits be automatically made upon accused’s motion for leave. This only eludes the basic first step in testing the sufficiency of prosecution evidence,” the court said.

“For if the prosecution has shown that it is entitled to the relief sought, no judgment on the merits is required to be made,” the resolution further read.

On Bautista’s claim that he was prevented from presenting his side, the anti-graft court said he has the chance to do so during the presentation of the defense.

It added that it is not appropriate for Bautista to question its ruling, nor is the court required to release an decision explaining the denial of the motion. 

Meanwhile, the Seventh division warned the camp of Bautista to watch the language used in their pleadings. 

“The tone initially set in the Motion haplessly does strike a sensitive chord, bordering as it does, on incivility and intemperate ascriptions on the “irregularity” allegedly committed by the court and its varying “prevarications.” 

The graft case against the former QC mayor is for the purchase of an online occupational permitting and tracking system worth P32.1 million in 2019.