PRESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte has appointed retired Sandiganbayan presiding justice Edilberto Sandoval as the top prosecutor of the Office of the Ombudsman. He was a judge of the Court of First Instance of Manila, now the Regional Trial Court, before he became a sandiganbayan magistrate. He was the only non-SC justice included in the shortlist for Chief Justice in May 2010. Under the Ombudsman Act of 1989, the special prosecutor has a fixed term of seven years. The special prosecutor is empowered to conduct preliminary investigation and prosecute criminal cases cognizable by the Sandiganbayan and enter into a plea bargaining agreement.

Source: Manila Times July 04, 2017 14:26 UTC