The Quezon City regional trial court (RTC) has dismissed the charges of falsification of public documents filed against an Australian mining businessman, and three other persons over the transfer of the 150,000 shares of Medusa Exploration and Development Corporation, now Philsaga Management Holdings, Inc.
Acquitted of the charges were Jefferey McGlinn, managing director of Australian-based firm X64 Ltd.; his local partner Joseph P. Mahusay; Ramon S. Austria; and lawyer Rosalinda Adriano Montenegro.
The RTC -- in an order issued by Judge Manuel B. Sta. Cruz Jr. -- granted the demurrer to evidence, which was allowed by the court, filed by McGlinn, Mahusay and Austria, and the demurrer filed by Montenegro even without the approval of the court.
A demurrer to evidence is a pleading filed by an accused in criminal case seeking the dismissal of the charge on the basis of the alleged weakness of the prosecution’s evidence.
If the demurrer is granted, the criminal charge against an accused is dismissed and the dismissal is tantamount to an acquittal.
The charges against them were filed by lawyer Raul Conde Villanueva, chairman of Philsaga Management Holdings and affiliated companies; and the firms’ officers Marie Glenn Cedeno-Sorila and Armando B. Dy.
In dismissing the charges, the RTC ruled that the prosecution failed “to present inculpatory evidence.”
“It is a basic constitutional principle, fleshed out by procedural rules, which place on the prosecution the burden of proving an accused guilt of the offense charged by proof beyond reasonable doubt,” the court said.
“As borne in the records, and admitted by the witnesses for the prosecution, private complainant Atty. Villanueva has executed a Special Power of Attorney in favor of accused McGlinn, among others, to either encumber, assign, sell, or transfer his 150,000 shares Medusa Exploration and Development Corporation (now PMHI); and that private complainant Atty. Villanueva assigned his shares to private complainant Cedeno-Sorila and Dy 12,500 each. Said private complainants Cedeno-Sorila and Dy executed a Declaration of Trust in favor of private complainant Atty. Villanueva on April 8, 2022,” it said.
On May 24, 2022, based on the Special Power of Attorney given to him by Villanueva, McGlinn entered into three Deeds of Assignment in favor of Mahusay; first for the 125,000 shares of Villanueva, next was for the 12,500 shares of Cedeno-Sorila and lastly for the 12,500 shares of Dy, it also said.
The prosecution accused McGlinn, Mahusay and Austria of making it appear that the said Deeds of Assignment were executed on said date or prior to Revocation of Special Power of Attorney and Revocation of Declaration of Trust the complainant Villanueva issued on July 21, 2022.
But in his own testimony, Villanueva said that he came to know of the said revocations only in February of the following year 2023, it said.
Thus, the court said, since “accused McGlinn entered into the Deeds of Assignments of Shares with Mahusay and Austria on May 24, 2022, with respect to the shares of private complainants Atty. Villanueva, Cedeno-Sorila and Dy, said accused McGlinn was still acting within his authority pursuant to the Special Power of Attorney issued to him on April 8, 2022 and the Declaration of Trust by private complainant Villanueva.”
“Given the said authority of McGlinn, accused Mahusay and Austria cannot be considered to have falsified subject documents, Thus, the six documents… are valid and have binding effects,” it also said.
The court pointed out: “In all criminal prosecutions, the prosecution bears the burden to establish the guilt of the accused beyond reasonable doubt. In discharging this burden, the prosecution’s duty is to prove each and every element of the crime charged in the information to warrant a finding of guilt for that crime or for any other crime necessarily included therein. The prosecution must also prove the participation of the accused in the commission of the offense.”
The dispositive portion of the RTC’s order:
“Wherefore, in view of the foregoing, the Demurer to Evidence (with leave of court) filed by accused Jeffery McGlinn, Joseph P. Mahusay, and Ramon S. Austria on Aug. 21, 2024, and the Demurer to Evidence (without leave of court) filed by accused Atty. Rosalinda Adriano-Montenegro on Aug. 29, 2024, are hereby granted.
“Accordingly, these cases against all the accused are hereby dismissed for lack of sufficient evidence.
“Consequently, the accused Jeffery McGlinn, Joseph P. Mahusay, Ramon S. Austria, and Atty. Rosalinda Adriano Montenegro are hereby acquitted for failure of the prosecution to prove their guilt beyond reasonable doubt.
“The order issuing warrant of arrest dated March 4, 2024 against accused Jeffery McGlinn is hereby ordered cancelled and recalled. So ordered.”
Villanueva and the two other complainants – in their company website -- declared that they “will pursue all the available legal remedies before the Court of Appeals to assail the erroneous dismissal of said falsification cases.”