MANILA, Philippines — The Sandiganbayan has acquitted a Cebu police colonel and three other police officers of graft and falsification charges after they were accused of allowing a stolen government vehicle to be registered to a private individual in 2005.
In a 39-page decision dated March 29, the anti-graft court’s Second Division cleared the four members of the Traffic Management Group from Camp Sotero Cabahug, Cebu of violating Section 3(e) of the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act, as well as Article 171(4) of the Revised Penal Code.
The court also ordered that the cash or surety bond posted by Colonel (Senior Superintendent) Florencio Buentipo Jr., retired Major (Chief Inspector) Myrna Areola, and Corporals (PO2s) Achilles Anthony Diola and Jorlick Roma III be returned, and the hold departure order against them be lifted.
In 2013, the Office of the Ombudsman filed the charges against the four for allegedly conspiring with a certain Ma. Cleofe Guerrero and allowing the falsification of the clearance certificate of a Mitsubishi Strada, which turned out to be a stolen vehicle from the Valencia City government in Bukidnon. These cases stemmed from the 2006 complaint of then Valencia City Mayor Jose Galario.
However, the Sandiganbayan said there was “no evident bad faith or gross inexcusable negligence” on the part of the four cops, and they “did not commit the alleged act of falsification.” The court also struck down the accusation that there was a conspiracy among the four.
Ultimately, the court acquitted the four “for failure of the plaintiff to prove their guilt beyond reasonable doubt.”
“An acquittal based on reasonable doubt will prosper even though the accused’s innocence may be doubted, for a criminal conviction rests on the strength of the evidence of the prosecution and not on the weakness of the defense,” the decision reads.
Associate Justice Michael Frederick Musngi penned the ruling, with the concurrence of Associate Justices Oscar Herrera Jr. and Lorifel Pahima. /muf