Lawyer Ma. Theresa Pabulayan, acting Sandiganbayan executive clerk of court, said most cases dragged on for decades because of the legal remedies sought by the government and defendants’ lawyers.
”These legal remedies are mainly availed by the defendants in order to protect their clients…(thru) several motions,” Pabulayan said.
”Ang cases natin, meron tayong numerous defendants. In some cases meron tayong 70, as many as 90 and if each defendant…mag-file…napakarami ng motion ire-resolve ng court.”
(We have numerous defendants in cases. We have as many as 90 defendants in a case. If each defendant files several motions, the court will have to resolve them all.)
Trials were also postponed after lawyers failed to appear, or when some witnesses went missing or became unavailable. Until now, some respondents have yet to be located.
Former Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG) commissioner Ruben Carranza blames the Marcoses for the slow disposition of cases.