Questionable junking of activists’ perjury case

“Legal analysts contend that the judgment of acquittal is attended with grave abuse of discretion, considering that good faith is not a defense in a prosecution for perjury.

The recent decision of the Metropolitan Trial Court of Quezon City acquitting 10 activists in a perjury case should be a cause for concern for the Quezon City Prosecutor’s Office.

For a clear picture of the controversy, an overview is in order. In 2009, 10 activists filed a petition for writs of habeas data and amparo ostensibly to seek protection from alleged threats and harassment against them. Hermogenes Esperon Jr. was named a respondent in the petition in his capacity as the National Security Adviser then.

One of the petitioners was Elenita Belardo, a nun who said she was the national coordinator of the Rural Missionaries of the Philippines. The other petitioners were officers of activist groups Karapatan and Gabriela.

Eventually, the Court of Appeals dismissed the petition.

The petition asserted that the RMP “is a duly registered non-stock, non-profit corporation.” That assertion was made under oath by the petitioners, Belardo included.

An inquiry with the Securities and Exchange Commission revealed that at the time the assertion about the RMP was made under oath, the RMP’s corporate registration with the SEC had already expired.

That means the RMP was not “duly registered” with the SEC when the petition was filed.

It also means that the assertion that the RMP “is a duly registered non-stock, non-profit corporation” was a falsehood.

Apparently, Belardo, despite being the national coordinator of the RMP, did not bother to ascertain the status of the corporate registration of her organization. The nun simply assumed that the RMP remained “duly registered” with the Commission.

As for the other petitioners, it appears that they took the nun’s representations as gospel truth, and signed the petition as is.

Under Article 183 of the Revised Penal Code, making an untruthful statement under oath constitutes the crime of perjury.

Withal, Esperon filed perjury charges against the nun and the other petitioners before the Quezon City Prosecutor’s Office. An information for perjury was eventually filed against them by the public prosecutor before the MTC of Quezon City, where it was raffled off to Branch 139.

After due proceedings, MTC Acting Presiding Judge Aimee Marie Alcera rendered a decision acquitting the 10 accused.

According to the decision, the accused acted in good faith when they asserted under oath regarding the corporate registration of the RMP. The decision also said that Belardo realized that the SEC registration of the RMP had expired only at the time she testified in court.

As expected, individuals from the RMP, Karapatan and Gabriela assembled outside the court building to denounce Esperon and praise the court’s decision.

Politicized clergy rang their church bells.

The legal counsel of the activists said the court’s decision would further strengthen public faith in the justice system.

Observers believe, however, that if the decision had gone against the activists, the latter would have surely denounced the justice system, as what happened when the Regional Trial Court of Manila convicted Rappler chief Maria Ressa of cyber libel back in June 2020.

Legal analysts contend that the judgment of acquittal is attended with grave abuse of discretion, considering that good faith is not a defense in a prosecution for perjury.

In particular, the defense of good faith cannot apply to Belardo because, as national coordinator of the RMP, she was expected to be aware of the status of the corporate registration of her own organization.

What Belardo did shows that many anti-administration organizations are corporations whose registration in the SEC had expired. In the eyes of the law, such corporations do not exist.

Although the prosecution is prohibited from appealing a judgment of conviction in a criminal case, it can file a petition for certiorari with the Regional Trial Court of Quezon City to seek the annulment of the judgment on the ground that it was attended with grave abuse of discretion.

“What Belardo did shows that many anti -administration organizations are corporations whose registration in the SEC had expired.