THE Sandiganbayan Seventh Division has ordered former Pampanga Rep. Zenaida Ducut and her counsel to explain why only photocopies of her medical records were submitted in court as proof that she is unfit to stand trial for graft and malversation charges.
Warned that the cases may be reinstated against the former lawmaker, the defense was given 72 hours to justify its failure to submit the complete medical records and results of the mental status examination conducted on Ducut by the National Center for Mental Health (NCMH).
The directive was signed by Associate Justices Zaldy V. Trespeses, Ma. Theresa Dolores C. Gomez-Estoesta, and Georgina D. Hidalgo.
Ducut was named co-accused in one count each of graft and malversation charges filed by the Office of the Ombudsman in 2016 against Muntinlupa City Rep. Rozzano Rufino Biazon over allegations of misuse of P3 million from the latter’s 2007 Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) allocations.
Prosecutors accused Ducut of acting as an agent between Biazon and businesswoman Janet Lim Napoles.
Government auditors traced that the money ended up with the bogus non-government organization (NGO) Philippine Social Foundation, Inc. (PSFI) which was linked to Napoles.
Also named in the cases were PSFI president Evelyn de Leon, Budget Undersecretary Mario Relampagos, Technology Resource Center (TRC) director generals Dennis Cunanan and Antonio Ortiz, and other DBM and TRC officers.
Prosecutors objected to the submission made by Ducut’s camp, noting that the NCMH report was dated February 22, 2023 which hints that the defendant has not been under a more recent neurocognitive evaluation to determine if she is fit to face her cases in court.
They argued that the submission was insufficient due to the lack of supporting medical documents to show that she underwent laboratory/medical/psychological tests, mental state examinations, comprehensive geriatric assessments, and other tests to verify her status and fitness to stand trial.
In addition, government lawyers noted that the Seventh Division was only “copy furnished” since the documents were intended for the Third Division where Ducut is facing two other cases.
