THE Sandiganbayan has shut the door on the request of government prosecutors to reopen the trial so it can present one last witness in 45 graft cases involving the alleged fraudulent issuance of tax credit certificates (TCC) worth P112.61 million.
According to the prosecution, its failure to call Rodolfo del Castillo Jr. to the witness stand was a mere inadvertence as it pleaded for the anti-graft court’s Third Division for leniency “to prevent a miscarriage of justice.”
It added that the defendants’ rights would not be adversely affected since their lawyers would have the opportunity to cross-examine the witness.
The Office of the Ombudsman filed the information in 2017 on 45 counts of violation of the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act (RA 3019) against officials of the Department of Finance and executives of a garment firm over the alleged illegal issuance of TCCs worth P112.61 million from 1995 to 1998.
Named defendants in all 45 cases were former Finance Undersecretary Antonio Belicena (+), One-Stop Shop Inter-Angecy Tax Credit and Duty Drawback Center (DOF Center) Deputy Executive Director Uldarico Andutan Jr., and private defendants Melchor Tan, Genoveva Tan, Julio Tan Jr., Blanquita Patawaran-Tan, Edgardo Olandez, Bernard Farin, Edmund Arandia, Michael Ray Quimpo, Alicia Bautista, Cristina Castillo, Leonardo Raña, Elena Buenaventura, and Dondon Pamatmat – incorporators or officials of Mannequin International Corp.
Other DOF-Center personnel named co-accused were Textile Division reviewer Asuncion Magdaet (43 counts), clerk Emelita Tizon and tax specialist Annabelle Diño (six counts each); tax specialist Merose Tordesilla (five counts); clerk Cherry Gomez and senior tax specialist Charmelle Recoter (four counts); planning officer Maria Cristina Moncada, senior tax specialist Sylvialina Daguimol, and administrative aide Gemma Ortiz-Abara (three counts); senior tax specialist Mark Binsol, and tax specialists Purita Napeñas and Gregoria Cuento-Evangelio (two counts); and planning officer III Rowena Malonzo-Maño, and tax specialists Manuel Rigor III, Paul Patricio Senador and Marife Cabadin (one count each).
Prosecutors said Mannequin Corp. was illegally granted TCCs even if it was not qualified for the privilege, as it did not export any product and used falsified documents in support of its application.
Castillo was a former liaison officer of a textile firm and was described by prosecutors as an important witness. His testimony proved instrumental in securing a conviction in another batch of 24 counts of graft against DOF officials and textile traders in August 2023.
However, the prosecution said that because of some confusion compounded by the COVID-19 pandemic, they overlooked the fact that he was not called to testify before the prosecution rested its case on January 24, 2023.
The Sandiganbayan, however, noted that the prosecutors were given ample chances to remedy the situation as far back as December 2022 after the defense challenged the admission into the record of documents to be identified by Del Castillo.
“Why the prosecution waited for all the accused to present their respective pieces of evidence and make their formal offer before filing the present motion baffles us no end. If Del Castillo, Jr. was indeed a vital witness, then all the more that the prosecution should have been vigilant in ensuring that he took the witness stand,” it pointed out.
Defendants in the case argued that the prosecution had already rested its case, and allowing it to reopen the trial would only cause delay.
They added that the prosecution only has itself to blame for its “negligence and carelessness,” as it failed to call its witness to testify.
“Here, the prosecution rested its case when this court admitted its documentary evidence; and then waited for the accused to finish presenting their defenses and offered their evidence before filing the motion to reopen. To allow the prosecution to call to the witness stand Del Castillo at this point would clearly prejudice the herein accused,” the Sandiganbayan said.
