Former vice president Jejomar C. Binay and his son, former Makati City mayor Jejomar Erwin S. Binay Jr., and 16 other persons have been acquitted of criminal charges filed over the construction of the P1.3 billion Makati Science High School (MSHS) from 2007 to 2013.
In an 86-page resolution penned by Associate Justice Rafael R. Lagos and promulgated last Dec. 13, the Sandiganbayan Special Fifth Division granted the demurrer to evidence of the accused and ordered the cases against them dismissed “for insufficiency of evidence.”
A 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. If the filing of the demurrer is allowed and is granted, the case is dismissed and the dismissal is to tantamount to an acquittal.
They were charged with multiple counts of falsification of a public document under Article 171 of the Revised Penal Code (RPC) and multiple counts of violating of Section 3(e) of Republic Act (RA) 3019, the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act.
The cases filed by the Office of the Ombudsman (OMB) stemmed from alleged irregularities in the architectural and engineering services for the four-storey dormitory that was awarded to Infiniti Architectural Works for P17,446,760 and alleged irregularities for the construction services for the six phases of the 10-storey MSHS building that was awarded to Hilmarc’s Construction Corporation for P1,336,282,212.
In granting the demurrer to evidence, the anti-graft court said: “In sum, the prosecution’s evidence failed to prove all of the charges. The presumption of innocence in favor of an accused in a criminal case is a basic constitutional guarantee. It demands that the State must establish his guilt beyond reasonable doubt. To do so, the prosecution must rely on the strength of its evidence, not the weakness of his defense. Every reasonable doubt of his guilt entitles him to an acquittal."
Aside from the Binays, those also acquitted are then city administrator and Bids and Awards Committee (BAC) chairperson Marjorie A. De Veyra; then city legal officer and BAC member Pio Kenneth I. Dasal; city budget officer and BAC member Lorenza P. Amores; then city accountant Leonila G. Querijero; Then city treasurer Nelia A. Barlis; then computer operator of the General Services Division Norman D. Flores; then BAC secretary and head of BAC Secretariat Giovanni I. Condes; then head of BAC Technical Working Group Rodel R. Nayve; BAC Secretariat member Ralph E. Liberato; then assistant department head and BAC vice chairman Ulysses E. Orienza; then BAC vice chairman Gerardo K. San Gabriel; then acting city accountant; then acting city accountant Raydes B. Pestano; then acting city administrator Eleno M. Mendoza Jr.; Virginia P. Garcia, a representative of Infiniti Architectural Works; and Efren M. Canlas and Julius V. Ramos, both of whom represent Hilmarc’s Construction Corporation;
“The bail bonds of the accused are hereby cancelled and ordered returned to them or their duly authorized representative/s, subject to the usual auditing and accounting rules and procedure. The Hold Departure Orders issued against all the accused in the foregoing cases are hereby lifted and set aside,” the anti-graft court said in its resolution.
The court noted the prosecution believes that the accused are guilty of violating RA 3019 because “they, in conspiracy with each other, rigged the bidding and award of the architectural and engineering design and the construction of the Makati High School building, to favor Infiniti and Hilmarc, in violation of the procurement law, RA 9184.”
As to the falsification cases, the anti-graft court said “the prosecution posits that the accused therein, again in conspiracy, with each other, falsified several bid documents and affidavits of publication, to make it appear that the bids and the awarding of the architectural and engineering contracts and construction contracts to Infiniti and Hilmarc’s, respectively, were in compliance with RA 9184, and therefore valid and regular.”
But the court said the prosecution relied heavily on the testimonies of four of their witnesses, namely, former senator Antonio F. Trillanes IV; former Makati City vice mayor Ernesto S. Mercado; Mario U. Hechanova, the then head of the city’s General Services Department (GSD) and vice chairman of the BAC from 2005 to 2008; and lawyer Renato Bondal.
“All the purported key witnesses for the prosecution had a critical flaw: they lacked direct, first-hand knowledge of the truth regarding the charges against all of the accused and as such, their testimonies hold no probative value and deserve scant consideration from this Court,” the Sandiganbayan pointed out.
Trillanes was still a senator when he participated in the Senate Blue Ribbon hearings concerning the alleged anomalous constructions at the MSHS.
“At most, Trillanes merely adopted as his own statements of the resource persons which he should not be allowed to do under the Rules of Court,” the court said.
It noted that Trillanes merely adopted the statements of the resource persons during the Senate Blue Ribbon hearings, namely, Mercado, Hechanova and Mercado.