The Sandiganbayan has ordered the admission of the pieces of evidence presented by former Narvacan, Ilocos Sur mayor Zuriel S. Zaragoza and his father, Edgardo Zaragoza in their cases for graft and malversation of public funds.

But the anti-graft court said that they still have to prove the probative value of their evidence during the trial of the cases.

Zuriel and his father, who is also a former mayor of Narvacan town, were charged with violations of Section 3(e) of Republic Act No. 3019, the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act, and Article 217 of the Revised Penal Code on malversation of public funds.

They were accused of causing undue injury to the municipality by allegedly allowing the misappropriation of P81 million intended for the benefit of the Federation of Farmers of Narvacan, Ilocos Sur.

The amount was sourced from the local excise taxes on locally-manufactured Virginia-type cigarettes under RA 7171, An Act to Promote the Development of Farmers in the Virginia Tobacco Producing Provinces.

"It should be stressed that admissibility of evidence should not be confused with its probative value. Admissibility refers to the question of whether certain pieces of evidence are to be considered at all, while probative value refers to the question of whether the admitted evidence proves an issue," the anti-graft court said in its resolution.

"Thus, a particular item of evidence may be admissible, but its evidentiary weight depends on judicial evaluation within the guidelines provided by the rules of evidence. Hence, the Court shall assess the probative value of the subject pieces of evidence at the appropriate time," the resolution also stated. 

The court said that even while the evidence might appear "to be of doubtful relevancy, incompetency, or inadmissibility," it is always safer to be liberal and not reject these on doubtful or technical grounds.

The three-page resolution was written by Associate Justice Edgardo M. Caldona with the concurrence of Presiding Justice Geraldine Faith A. Econg and Associate Justice Arthur O. Malabaguio.