The Sandiganbayan has dismissed the graft charge filed against private individual Teodoro C. Lim, one of the co-accused in the case filed against former officials of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) and the Metro Manila Development Authority (MMDA) in the “ghost warehouse demolition" in 1993.
The anti-graft court had earlier convicted of graft charges former DPWH project manager Francisco Reyes, MMDA appraisal committee chairman Robert Nacianceno, Quezon City engineer Alfredo Macapugay, MMDA real property assessment service director Ramon Mateo, QC assistant city assessor Dante Villoria, and private individuals Margarito Chan and Dickson Lim.
They were sentenced to six to eight years imprisonment with perpetual disqualification from holding public office for reportedly demolishing a warehouse along Sgt. Esguerra Street in Barangay Manresa, San Jose, Quezon City in order to give way for the construction of the DPWH Circumferential Road Project or the C-3 Road.
State auditors said the warehouse was a “ghost” establishment and the DPWH shelled out money for a project that “did not exist.”
But the Supreme Court (SC) in early 2023 reversed the judgment of conviction due to insufficiency of evidence as the High Court ruled that the subject warehouse actually existed while the prosecution claimed it did not.
At the time the cases were being litigated, Lim remained at large. Later, he told the Sandiganbayan that the criminal case filed against him on Feb. 11, 2003 should be dismissed on the ground that the facts charged do not constitute an offense. He also cited the SC’s decision which should be a "proper subject of mandatory judicial notice."
The Sandiganbayan agreed with Lim as it pointed out that the findings of the SC are "binding" in this case "because they involve the same parties and subject matter."
"Thus, the court (Sandiganbayan) posits that continuing the case against accused Lim would be a waste of time and a useless act because the same defenses, evidence, and facts would have to be presented again. It is fundamental that SC's decisions form part of the legal system, and a court's refusal to apply them constitutes a breach of its duties to resolve a dispute in conformity with the law," the decision stated.
"Consequently, in accordance with the principle of conclusiveness of judgment, the court deemed it proper not to disturb what has already been settled," it added.
The seven-page resolution was written by Associate Justice Zaldy V. Trespeses with the concurrence of Chairperson Associate Justice Ma. Theresa Dolores C. Gomez-Estoesta and Associate Justice Edgardo M. Caldona.