MANILA, Philippines -- The Court of Appeals reverse itself and ruled that there is no probable cause to file criminal charges against Luisito Gonzales and his driver for the murder of businessman Francisco "Don Paco" Delgado last year.

The appeals court reversed the March 18 ruling of retired associate justice Enrico Lanzanas affirming the Department of Justice?s (DoJ) findings that there is evidence to warrant the filing of a murder case against Gonzales and his driver Antonio Buenaflor.

"This Court has carefully evaluated the evidence of the parties once more, and its reassessment of the evidence compels it to reconsider its previous affirmation of public respondent acting secretary of justice's finding of probable cause," the appeals court said in a 23-page amended decision authored by Associate Justice Remedios Salazar-Fernando.

The court also nullified the arrest warrants issued by the Manila City Regional Trial Court.

The appeals court noted that the finding of probable cause was based solely on the testimony of lone eyewitness, Annalisa Pesico, the victim?s girlfriend.

In her first testimony, Pesico claimed she was with Delgado when he was stabbed dead inside his home at the Mayflower Building in Malate, Manila on March 10, 2007 and that she was beaten up by two men who said they were just following the alleged orders of the victim?s brother, Franco.

But in her second sworn statement, which she executed four days after the first, Pesico identified the assailants as Gonzales and Buenaflor and claimed she recognized them when they removed their masks.

However, the appeals court said it was unlikely she could have seen their faces due to the suddenness of the attack.

"While her first sworn statement undoubtedly counts as a 'fresh account' of the incident, there are valid reasons to suspect that the second sworn statement could have been tainted, if not supplied or suggested, considering the intervening time between the execution of the first and second statements," the court said.

The court also gave weight to the affidavits of the 29 medical staff of the Neuro Psychiatric Unit of the Makati Medical Center, which proved it was impossible for Gonzales to have been at the crime scene since he was confined in the hospital at the time of the killing.

"Thus, taking into account these 29 sworn statements, it was certainly impossible for the petitioners to have been at the crime scene?Alibi is not always undeserving of credit, for there are times when the accused has no other possible defense for what could really be the truth as to his whereabouts at the crucial time, and such defense may in fact tilt the scales of justice in his favor," the appeals court said.