Philippine Supreme Court Resolutions > Year 2008 > September 2008 Resolutions > [G.R. No. 182382 : September 02, 2008] JAIME S. DOMDOM V. HON. THIRD DIVISION OF THE SANDIGANBAYAN, COMMISSION ON AUDIT, AND THE PEOPLE OF THE PHILIPPINES:

Quoted hereunder, for your information, is a resolution of the Court En Banc dated September 2, 2008

�G.R. No. 182382 (Jaime S. Domdom v. Hon. Third Division of the Sandiganbayan, Commission on Audit, and the People of the Philippines). � Petitioner, former Member of the Board of Directors, Philippine Crop Insurance Corporation, was charged before the Sandiganbayan with nine (9) counts of Estafa through Falsification of Documents in the total amount of P28,400.00.^[1] The nine cases were separately raffled and distributed among all five divisions of the court. The First, Second, and Fifth Divisions granted petitioner�s motion to consolidate the cases with the lowest docket number, which was with the Third Division. The Third Division, however, rejected the consolidation in its Resolutions dated February 12 and May 8, 2008, thus:

The Resolution of the Honorable Court�s Fifth Division promulgated on January 29, 2008 praying for the consolidation of theses cases with this Court, is hereby REJECTED, as the evidence in the cases pending before the Fifth Division are different from the evidence in cases (SB-07-CRM-0052 and 0057) before the Court. Likewise, SB-07-CRM-0052 and 0057 were ordered archived on January 25, 2008.^[2]

x x x x

Consistent with our Resolution rejecting another case from the Honorable Court�s Fifth Division, the consolidation of this case with this Court is hereby REJECTED, for the same reason, that the evidence therein and SB-07-CRM-0052 & 0057 before this Court, are different.

Let the record of the above-entitled case be returned to the Honorable Court�s Second Division.^[3]

This is in contrast with the reasoning of the other divisions in granting the consolidation. For instance, in its January 29, 2008 Resolution, the Fifth Division stated:

A perusal of the informations in the cases filed before us and those filed before the other divisions of this court show that the manner of the commission of the alleged crimes is identical and involving one complainant, which is the Commission on Audit. As the accused will be presenting a common defense, he will be spared from huge expense, if all these cases will be tried in one division. There is likewise valid basis for his fear that different verdicts may be issued by the five divisions of this court, as the justices of each division may have different appreciations of the evidence presented by the parties. x x x^[4]

As a consequence of the rejection by the Third Division, petitioner�s arraignment in different divisions has been scheduled, and trial proceedings are set to commence.

Petitioner comes to this Court via a petition for certiorari under Rule 65. He assails the February 12 and May 8, 2008 Resolutions of the Third Division rejecting consolidation of all cases in the Third Division. Meantime, he prays for a temporary restraining order and/or writ of preliminary injunction.

ACCORDINGLY, as prayed for and so as not to moot the issues raised by petitioner, We grant the motion for TRO. The Sandiganbayan Third Division is temporarily restrained from further proceeding with the trial of the cases entitled People of the Philippines v. Jaime S. Domdom (Criminal Case Nos. SB-07-CRM-0052 to 0060) effective immediately, until further orders from this Court.

Let copies this Resolution be furnished the First, Second, and Fifth Division of the Sandiganbayan.

The Court further Resolved to

(a) NOTE the Comment on the petition, dated August 11, 2008, filed by the Office of the Special Prosecutor for respondent People of the Philippines in compliance with the resolution of June 10, 2008;

(b) GRANT the Motion for Leave to File and Admit the Attached Reply to People�s Comment, dated August 28, 2008, filed by counsel for petitioner; and

(c) NOTE the aforesaid reply, dated August 28, 2008, filed by counsel for Petitioner, relative to the above comment of the People of the Philippines.�

Ynares-Santiago, Carpio, Austria-Martinez and Azcuna, JJ., on official leave .

Endnotes:

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^[1] Rollo, p. 62.

^[2] Id. at 115. Resolution dated February 12, 2008.

^[3] Id. at 233. Resolution dated May 8, 2008.

^[4] Id. at 108.