Ombudsman posts 17.9% conviction rate for first half of 2011

Of the 318 people prosecuted by the Office of the Ombudsman since the start of the year, only 57 — or 17.9 percent — were convicted by the Sandiganbayan, record shows. Most of those convicted in the first half of 2011 were of graft and malversation charges, including two who pleaded guilty, according to a report obtained from the Sandiganbayan. The Sandiganbayan acquitted 144 accused, dismissed cases against 95 for lack of evidence or defective indictments, and ordered 19 into the archives in cases where defendants remain at large. There were also two cases withdrawn by prosecutors, while one was remanded to a lower court on a question of jurisdiction. The latest report was a 47-percent improvement from the Ombudsman’s 12 percent conviction rate for the whole of 2010, when it achieved only 30 convictions in 247 cases. This dismal mark was the centerpiece of the impeachment complaint against former Ombudsman Ma. Merceditas Gutierrez, who resigned from her post last May 6 before she could face trial at the Senate. She was replaced by retired Supreme Court Justice Conchita Carpio-Morales, whose appointment was announced by President Benigno S. Aquino III in his State of the Nation Address last July 25. — KBK, GMA News