SOMETHING peculiar transpired at the Sandiganbayan on June 17, 2025 and it happened not just once but twice on the same day.
The anti-graft court’s Third Division issued two resolutions on that day – a seven-page ruling denying the Motion to Quash Information filed by defendant former Davao City Water District general manager Wilfredo Carbonquillo; and a 45-page per curiam resolution granting the demurrer to evidence of former justice secretary Hernando Perez and his co-defendant Ramon Antonio Arceo in a $2 million forfeiture case.
The first ruling was a ponencia of Third Division chairperson Associate Justice Karl B. Miranda with Associate Justices Ronald B. Moreno and Bernelito R. Fernandez, while the second one was a per curiam ruling among the same three members of the court.
There was only one problem: Fernandez could not have signed either ruling, let alone both, for the simple reason that he had already retired on June 5, 2025, 12 days before the two resolutions were promulgated.
Yesterday, the court posted two almost identical rulings on its official website – the same number of pages, the same findings and dispositive portions.
There were only two things different in the new resolutions: the name of Justice Fernandez has been replaced by Associate Justice Arthur O. Malabaguio and the promulgation dates were changed to July 4, 2025.
At the bottom of Page 1 of the replacement Carbonquillo resolution was a notation that Justice Malabaguio, a member the Second Division, was appointed to make up the numbers in the Third Division per Administrative Order No. 150-2025 issued on July 3, 2025.
There was no such notation in the replacement resolution for the Perez forfeiture case.
A single-page resolution dated June 20, 2025 said the earlier Carbonquillo resolution was an honest mistake.
“Considering that the Resolution, which was signed by Associate Justice Bernelito R. Fernandez a few days before he retired, was inadvertently forwarded for promulgation on June 17, 2025 to the Office of the Executive Clark of Court III after Justice Fernandez’s retirement, the said Resolution resolving the Motion to Quash Information of accused Wilfredo A. Carbonquillo is hereby RECALLED,” the Third Division said.
At the bottom of the same one-page document is a notation that says Malabaguio was “designated as special member to sit at trial and participate in the deliberation or motions and sign orders and resolutions in view of the vacancy at the Third Division, pursuant to Administrative Order No. 115-2025 dated June 16, 2025.”
No explanation was given why, after the June 16, 2025 AO was issued, another one had to be issued on July 3, 2025 assigning Malabaguio to the same Carbonquillo case.
Again, no such resolution assigning Malabaguio in place of Fernandez as regards the Perez wealth case was issued, but the June 17, 2025 resolution was still recalled and replaced by a new one bearing only a different third member and tagged with a new promulgation dated: July 4, 2025.
