Ombudsman Jesus Crispin Remulla pressed his position that officials convicted by the court should start serving their sentences immediately, saying that this has not been happening because courts keep on granting them bail while the ruling is under appeal.
Remulla said that if the courts would grant bail pending appeal, there should be stricter requirements and a deadline for resolving the appeals so that the convicted individual is not set free indefinitely.
He reiterated his point on Saturday after saying earlier this week that the immediate implementation of the jail term after conviction is one of the best ways to ensure that people will not commit the offense again.
“Pag ikaw ay na-convict ng lower court, na convict ka na ng Sandiganbayan, na-convict ka na ng RTC dito sa graft, dapat diyan kulong ka na. Eh ang problema, medyo sobrang bait ng korte at hindi ginagawa yung trabaho na ipakulong yung dapat ipinakukulong. Grant sila ng grant ng bail eh,” he said on his regular show on DZRH.
He also said the bail set by the court is usually low.
If the court sets bail for a convict who is appealing a ruling, he said it should be equivalent to the cost of damage caused.
“Cash bond dapat iyan. Hindi dapat bond yan, dapat cash lahat iyan. Kasi pinapagpiyansa pa nila, na convict na,” he said.
He said the presumption of innocence should not be an excuse, since this has been overturned by the court’s conviction.
“Huwag niyo ho sasabhihin ang presumption of innocence kapag na-convict na ho ang tao. Tapos na iyan, wala na hong right to bail iyan pero pinapagpiyansa pa rin nila,” he said.
Remulla said the Sandiganbayan has actually convicted a lot of officials, but few are in jail because many were granted bail pending appeal.
He said he has ordered an inventory of those sentenced by the Sandiganbayan to determine how many are now detained.
He also said appeals should be resolved promptly, within a certain time frame. If no deadline is set, then the convicted official is allowed to be free indefinitely, he said, noting that some cases take so long to resolve due to repeated motions for extension.
“Ang pakiusap ko lang sana sa judiciary, gawin niyo ang trabaho niyo. Saka sa taong bayan, panoorin niyo kami pareho. Panoorin niyo ang trabaho namin sa Ombudsman, panoorin niyo ang ginagawa ng judiciary,” he said.
At the budget hearing for his office before the House of Representatives earlier this week, Remulla said the legal system is not clear about those sentenced by lower courts, noting that they are usually allowed to post bail while appealing their conviction.
“This has to be redefined in our time. We have to make people face the music that once convicted, you serve the sentence immediately and only the appeal can stop the service of your sentence,” he said.
But since they are allowed to post bail after conviction, and the appeal process takes so long, their sentences do not mature into something that has to be served by the person convicted.
“So the appellate process is very defective, your honor. There is no timetable for the appellate process. You go to the Court of Appeals and then the Supreme Court, then we don’t know what will happen,” he pointed out.
This has to be addressed by the Supreme Court, he said.
“Are we going to allow people to post bail after they’ve been convicted or are we going to let them serve their sentence? I think that’s the critical thing, the elephant in the room that we have to ask the Supreme Court about because it’s wasting our government resources if we do not actually implement the decisions immediately,” he said.