The Sandiganbayan has affirmed its Nov. 26, 2020 ruling that acquitted Cebu Gov. Gwen F. Garcia of two graft charges in the purchase of 24.92 hectares of beachfront property for P98.9 million in 2008.
(MANILA BULLETIN)
In a resolution issued last March 5, the anti-graft court denied the motion for reconsideration filed by the prosecution on the 2020 ruling that granted Garcia’s demurrer to evidence.
A demurrer to evidence is filed by an accused in a criminal case on the ground of weakness of the prosecution’s evidence to sustain a conviction.
Under the rules, the grant of a demurrer to evidence is tantamount to the acquittal of the accused.
In its March 5 resolution, the Sandiganbayan said:
"A thorough examination of the motion reveals that it is a subtle attempt to have this Court review purported errors of judgment or those involving mis-appreciation of evidence and factual antecedents.
"The Court cannot now be compelled to review, re-examine, and re-evaluate the evidence on record, and thereafter reverse and set aside the Resolution, without transgressing the accused's constitutionally enshrined right against double jeopardy."
The resolution was written by Associate Justice Lorifel L. Pahimna and concurred in by Associate Justices Oscar C. Herrera Jr., Michael Frederick L. Musngi, Maria Theresa V. Mendoza-Arcega, and Karl B. Miranda.
Herrera, who dissented in the grant of the demurrer to evidence, concurred only in the result -- the dismissal of the prosecution’s motion. He explained that a resolution granting a demurrer to evidence cannot be the subject of a motion for reconsideration.
Garcia was charged with graft for purchasing a portion of the Balili estate for P400 per square-meter on April 21, 2008. With Garcia’s approval, a total of P98,926,800 was paid to the Balilis even without the appropriation for the purchase, the prosecution alleged.
Her co-accused in the first case were Sangguniang Panlalawigan member Juan Bolo, chairman of the Cebu Provincial Appraisal Committee (CPAC) and Provincial Assessor Anthony Sususco, CPAC members and treasurer and OIC-provincial engineer Roy Salumbre and Eulogio Pelayre, provincial budget officer Emme Gingoyon, and private individuals Amparo and Romeo Balili. All the co-accused had also been acquitted by the Sandiganbayan.
Garcia was the only accused in the second graft case.
In the 2020 grant of the demurrer to evidence, the Sandiganbayan ruled that there was no definitive proof that "there was a community of conscious and criminal design on the part of the accused to purchase the Balili properties despite the actual or physical condition thereof."
The prosecution filed a motion to reconsider the ruling. It claimed that the court violated the state's right to due process and committed grave abuse of discretion in dismissing the case despite admitting that there was no program or budget for the acquisition of real properties, among many other things.
In denying the motion, the court explained that the grant of a demurrer to evidence amounts to an acquittal, and therefore cannot be appealed because it would place the accused in double jeopardy, which is the prosecution of an accused twice for the same offense.