SC affirms dismissal of ex-SOJ’s case

The Supreme Court has upheld the Sandiganbayan’s decision dismissing the falsification of public documents case filed by the Office of the Ombudsman in 2008 against former Justice Secretary Hernando Perez for his alleged failure to disclose his and his wife’s foreign bank deposits amounting to $1.7 million. 

In a resolution, the SC ruled the testimonies presented by the Ombudsman prosecutor were considered hearsay evidence because the witnesses admitted they did not have personal knowledge of the contents of the documents they were testifying on. 

“Hence, the Sandiganbayan did not err in refusing to give probative value to these documentary and testimonial evidence presented by the prosecution, albeit having been previously admitted, leading to the dismissal of the case based on the demurrer to evidence,” the high court ruled. 

The SC resolution denied the Ombudsman’s petition seeking to overturn the rulings of the Sandiganbayan that granted Perez’s motion for demurrer to evidence and dismissed the charges. 

Demurrer to evidence is a pleading filed by an accused in a criminal case seeking the dismissal of the charges on alleged weakness of the prosecution’s evidence. 

The grant of the demurrer is effectively an acquittal of the charges. 

In its complaint, the Ombudsman said that Perez falsified his statement of assets, liabilities, and net worth (SALN) in 2001 by not disclosing his and his wife Rosario’s $1.7 million deposit in EFG Private Bank in Guernsey, a British Crown dependency. 

The complaint arose from the allegation of then Manila Rep. And businessman Mark Jimenez that Perez extorted $2 million from him in exchange for not testifying in the plunder case of then-President Joseph Ejercito Estrada. 

The documents presented by the OMB came from Coutts Bank in Hongkong and EFG Private Bank with accompanying letters of authentication from foreign authorities.