SC parries criticisms, cites improved caseload

Court Administrator Ma. Theresa Dolores Gomez-Estoesta said the Supreme Court has already made it clear in a statement that it welcomes criticism, but qualified that criticism should be based on evidence and raised at the proper forum.

Philstar.com / EC Toledo

MANILA, Philippines —  The Supreme Court yesterday presented its proposed P86.271-billion budget for next year at a Senate budget hearing, and assured senators of improving caseload in the judiciary.

Officials of the high court also denied the allegations of Ombudsman Jesus Crispin Remulla of corruption in the courts and slow paced justice system.

Court Administrator Ma. Theresa Dolores Gomez-Estoesta said the Supreme Court has already made it clear in a statement that it welcomes criticism, but qualified that criticism should be based on evidence and raised at the proper forum.

“While we welcome a check, a scrutiny into our actions, there is always a process. If there is allusion to misconduct, corruption or irregularity, it should be substantiated, rather than rely on general statements in public,” Estoesta said.

Sen. Francis Pangilinan led the Senate finance committee hearing on the judiciary’s proposed 2027 budget.

On Remulla’s claim that several corruption cases get reversed by the Court of Appeals, Justice Fernanda Lampas Peralta said the CA only reversed 18 percent of the total 683 cases appealed either in a petition for review or certiorari from 2021 up to the present.

Peralta said the CA rejected up to 81 of 87 temporary restraining orders and writ for preliminary injunctions that could have favored the accused.

“Meaning to say there were not many, many cases that the ombudsman were reversed by the CA,” Peralta said.

From January to July this year, Estoesta said only 13 of the 286 administrative cases filed for review before the Supreme Court were reversed, noting that the number is less than one percent of the total.

On the claim that anti-corruption cases languish before the Sandiganbayan for up to 15 years, Justice Geraldine Econg said they have improved the court’s case disposition rate by reducing the caseload from 5,237 cases in 2019 and 1,229 in 2024 to only 535 as of June this year.

Econg estimates that the “shelf life” of a corruption case before the anti-graft court is nine years, not 15 years as Remulla claimed.

“This year, we disposed already 356 cases. Of the 356, 82 percent had convictions,” Econg said. “In 2021, one out of 10 gets convicted. Now it has changed, we now have eight out of 10.”

Econg revealed that there are 26 cases filed against senators and members of the House of Representatives.

As for the flood control mess, Econg said the first batch of Ombudsman cases filed in November 2025 is already in the defense stage.

“Of the first cases filed, they are already in the defense stage. That means that in less than a year, we are already in the defense side. That’s pretty fast,” Econg said.

She added that the first flood control case already in the defense stage could end up in “conviction or acquittal within the year.”

The first flood control case was filed on Nov. 18, 2025 for malversation of public funds and falsification of public documents against former party-list lawmaker and alleged “cong-tractor” now fugitive Zaldy Co.

Pangilinan expressed hope the improved conviction rate would apply to the flood control cases and that the Sandiganbayan would heed the public’s demand for justice.