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Because of this detour across lower courts, suspects Lin Weixiong and Lloyd Christopher Lao found a window to move to junk the case for violating their right to a speedy trial. That argument was not affirmed by the courts.
MANILA, Philippines – The graft charges over irregular Pharmally contracts have finally reached the anti-graft court Sandiganbayan after a year of moving through two lower courts because of the Ombudsman’s insistence that it should be tried there.
“Insofar as the three Informations are concerned, it is declared that it is the Sandiganbayan which has jurisdiction over the crimes charged,” the Sandiganbayan Seventh Division said in a resolution dated July 21.
This concerns P4.1 billion worth of allegedly anomalous pandemic contracts given to the undercapitalized Pharmally. The respondents in this case include former budget officials, such as Lloyd Christopher Lao, and the foreign officers of Pharmally like Lin Weixiong, the business associate of former Duterte adviser Michael Yang.
After the Senate published its report in 2022 finding irregularities in the pandemic contracts given by the Duterte government, the Office of the Ombudsman conducted its investigation. It filed the charges in July 2024 with the Manila Regional Trial Court (RTC), insisting that it’s the lower court that has jurisdiction over the charges.
Generally, corruption charges against public officials are tried by the Sandiganbayan, but the Ombudsman was relying on Section 2 of Republic Act 10660 that says it’s the RTC that has jurisdiction over cases where there is allegation of “any damage to the government or any bribery.”
The charge sheets accuse the budget officials of giving “unwarranted benefits, advantage or preference” to Pharmally officers.
For the Ombudsman, this is different from causing damage to the government.
In September 2024, Manila RTC junked the case for lack of jurisdiction, but the Ombudsman’s insistence on its legal theory got the Manila court to instead just refer it to the nearest judicial region, which is in Malolos, Bulacan.
It went through another mill at the Malolos RTC and stayed there until January 2025. The Malolos court’s decision was still the same — that it is dismissing the cases for lack of jurisdiction.
That’s when the Ombudsman went to the Sandiganbayan, insisting again that it should be the lower court which should try.
Fundamentally flawed
The Sandiganbayan said the Ombudsman’s theory is “fundamentally flawed.” The court said “a contract that is unfavorable or prejudicial to the government, if implemented, would necessarily involve harm or loss to the government.”
“As such, while it need not be alleged as an element, damage in violations of Section 3(g) is a logically related concept that may be inferred from a disadvantageous contract,” the court said.
The court added that if it were to interpret “damage” in the way that the Ombudsman wants to interpret it, then it would “unduly limit” the jurisdiction of the country’s primary anti-corruption court.
Because of this detour across lower courts, Lin and Lao found a window to move to junk the case for violating their right to a speedy trial. That argument was not affirmed by the courts.
Pharmally’s Lin Weixiong and his ties to Yang are still being scrutinized by Philippine investigators due to alleged ties to other criminal activities, such as illegal drugs and scam farms. – Rappler.com
