The Office of the Ombudsman has dismissed the complaint filed against Public Attorney's Office (PAO) chief Persida Rueda-Acosta involving alleged corrupt practices in the creation of the PAO Forensic Laboratory.
Acosta was facing the complaint for graft, falsification, malversation, and several other administrative charges alongside forensic pathologist Dr. Erwin Erfe.
Complainant Wilfredo Garrido Jr. alleged that the two created the PAO Forensic Laboratory without any mandate from Congress. The complainant said Acosta did this solely to cater to her own whims and caprices.
The laboratory, manned primarily by Erfe, reportedly conjures evidence which the Philippine National Police (PNP) and National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) Crime Laboratories might refuse to produce.
Garrido is accusing Acosta of using the PAO Forensic Laboratory to "prove her case," especially with regards to the highly controversial Dengvaxia case.
But in a Joint Resolution signed by Ombudsman Samuel Martires last June 10 and received by the PAO last Jan. 14, Acosta and Erfe were cleared because there was no sufficient evidence to prove all of the crimes mentioned.
The Ombudsman found out that Acosta sought the Department of Budget and Management’s approval on the contracts of services entered with Erfe as well as the creation of a forensic library.
The letters from DBM dated Dec. 15, 2004, April 21, 2005, and Jan. 14, 2019 approved it and established the presumption of regularity.
The complainant accused Acosta and Erfe of ambulance-chasing activities, which refers to a lawyer soliciting for clients in a disaster site.
However, the Ombudsman said the allegations in the complaint were based only on news articles and postings lifted from the Internet.
"Records are bereft of any proof that respondents were engaged in ambulance-chasing of cases," the Ombudsman said.
There was likewise no basis to indict them for graft, according to the Ombudsman, because there was no undue injury caused to the government.
"There was no sufficient evidence presented to show that Acosta's hiring of a forensic consultant, Erfe, and creation of an office known as the PAO Forensic Laboratory, as approved by the DBM, were ultra vires acts," the Ombudsman said.
Ultra vires refers to an act which requires legal authority but is done without it.
The Ombudsman likewise poked holes at the complaint for lack of evidence. "It was not demonstrated that there was 'willful intent to violate the law or disregard established rules," the Ombudsman added.
"Also, the elements of intentionally making a false statement in any material fact, act of cruelty, severity or making excessive use of authority wrongfully inflicted upon any person, and acts which tarnish the image and integrity of public office, were not supported by substantial evidence," it added.