Virgilio Lorenzo Jr

Supreme Court urged to set time limits, designate special courts for flood control cases

Article (news)

David Dizon

ABS-CBN News

<p>The Supreme Court should impose time limits on corruption trials and designate special courts that will focus solely on corruption cases involving multibillion-peso government infrastructure projects, a lawmaker and a political analyst said over the weekend. </p><div><a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/nation/2025/9/11/a-timeline-of-the-philippine-flood-control-scandal-0600">A timeline of the Philippine flood control scandal</a></div><p>Akbayan party-list Rep. Chel Diokno said no corruption trial should last longer than 3 years maximum since prolonged trials favor the accused.</p><p>Political analyst Prof Edmund Tayao, meanwhile, said the government cannot rely solely on the Sandiganbayan anti-graft courts to tackle the multibillion flood control scam, noting that the larger number of cases would mean the trials would drag on.</p><p>“Hindi tayo pwedeng magdepend sa Sandiganbayan dahil sa dami ng katiwalian, nagtatagal talaga,” he said in a DZMM interview.</p><p>“Kulang pa din at sa dami ng korap na politiko natin sa buong archipelago, dapat may special courts diyan. Masimulan man lang ang trial ng mga kaso.”</p><p>In his statement, Diokno urged the Supreme Court to impose strict time limits on corruption trials after learning that hundreds of corruption cases have been pending in the Sandiganbayan for over 20 years. </p><p>“No corruption trial should last longer than 3 years maximum; and no appeal should take longer than 2 years. Corruption cases deserve the highest priority because the victims of corruption are all of us—the people—ordinary citizens whose taxes should go to improving their quality of life, not fattening the wallets of those entrusted with government authority,” he said.</p><p>Diokno said the recent <a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/nation/2025/10/24/enrile-acquitted-of-graft-in-pork-barrel-case-1019">acquittal</a> of high-profile personalities accused of corruption in the PDAF scandal gives rise to the question: Do prolonged delays in the trial of corruption cases favor the accused?</p><p>“When the trial of a corruption case takes a decade or more, witnesses are vulnerable: their memories can fade, they can easily lose interest in testifying (&#x27;kasi wala namang nangyayari&#x27;); and they may no longer be available to testify because they have to work abroad, get sick, or die of natural or unnatural causes,” he said.</p><p>“Prosecutors are just as vulnerable. Like witnesses, they can lose interest in prosecuting the case, or succumb to offers of promotion or financial gain in exchange for &#x27;going easy&#x27; on the accused.”</p><p>In the interview, Tayao broke down the differences between the pork barrel scam of Janet Lim Napoles and the flood control corruption scandal involving DPWH engineers and contractors, saying the former was harder to prove because it involved non-tangible projects such as technical assistance, training, community organizing, agricultural development and the like.</p><p>“Hindi ito tangible projects so madaling itago…Maraming lusot ‘yung ganyan dahil hindi ‘yan konkreto,” he said.</p><p>On the other hand, he said the flood control scandal involves actual infrastructure which has to be seen and can easily be audited.</p><p>“Pag walang infra, ibig sabibin klarong-klaro na ghost project ‘yun,” he said. </p><p>Tayao said he expects the Independent Commission for Infrastructure to file its first “airtight” case on the scandal before the end of the year. </p><p>He also rejected ex-Ombudsman Samuel Martires’ statement that it is not the job of the Ombudsman to call for press conferences and inform the public about the status of cases.</p><p>“Hindi ako pabor sa sinasabi ng dating Ombudsman, na hindi dapat nag pe-presscon, hindi dapat binubuksan ang SALN at higit sa lahat hindi sinasapubliko yung mga importanteng desisyon. Kalokohan ‘yan. That is keeping public issues from public scrutiny,” he said.</p><div><span class="fr-video fr-deletable fr-fvc fr-dvb fr-draggable" contenteditable="false" draggable="true"><iframe width="640" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/CTz8aDj5HNQ?&amp;wmode=opaque&amp;rel=0" frameBorder="0" allowfullscreen="" class="fr-draggable"></iframe></span><br/></div><div><span class="fr-video fr-deletable fr-fvc fr-dvb fr-draggable" contenteditable="false" draggable="true"><iframe width="640" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/3AT57XpbteY?&amp;t=179s&amp;wmode=opaque&amp;rel=0" frameBorder="0" allowfullscreen="" class="fr-draggable"></iframe></span><br/></div>

<p>The Supreme Court should impose time limits on corruption trials and designate special courts that will focus solely on corruption cases involving multibillion-peso government infrastructure projects, a lawmaker and a political analyst said over the weekend.</p>

The Supreme Court should impose time limits on corruption trials and designate special courts that will focus solely on corruption cases involving multibillion-peso government infrastructure projects, a lawmaker and a political analyst said over the weekend.