Friday, April 11, 2008 Ex-General Garcia cleared anew of perjury
ANOTHER division of the Sandiganbayan acquitted last Thursday retired Army Major General Carlos Garcia of a perjury charge involving his alleged failure to declare ownership over three motor vehicles worth P1.51 million in 1998.
In a decision, the anti-graft court's Second Division held that Garcia's failure to declare all his assets in his sworn statement of assets, liabilities and net (SALN) worth as of December 30, 1998 was an "honest mistake."
It was the second time the former Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) comptroller was acquitted of perjury by the anti-graft court. The first one was in 2006 when the Third Division cleared him of perjury involving his SALN for year ending 1999.
The perjury case involves the alleged misrepresentation made by Garcia in his 1998 SALN where he only declared ownership of motor vehicles valued at P870,000.
The prosecution claimed Garcia had three more vehicles, which include a Toyota Previa worth P521,797 registered under his name; and a Mitsubishi L-300 Van De Luxe valued at P424,583 and a 1997 Honda Civic 1.6vti amounting to P564,000, both registered under the name of his wife, Clarita.
However, the Second Division held that the prosecution failed to prove that the two vehicles are conjugal property, which the retired general ought to have declared.
The court also noted the defects in the SALN form prepared by the Civil Service Commission (CSC) and used by the AFP, which led to Garcia's failure to declare his other assets.
A closer look at the form, the court said, would show that nowhere in the boxes required to be filled out can a single space be found for the filer to declare the assets of the spouse and children aged below 18 years old and living with the public official or employee.
The court also said it could hardly understand why the CSC came up with only one document when the law requires two.
"Consequently, whatever error was committed by the accused, the same is attributable to the mistake in the preparation of the SALN form by the CSC," said in the resolution written by Associate Justice Samuel Martires and concurred in by Associate Justices Edilberto Sandoval and Teresita Diaz Baldos.
"It may be pertinent to state that where strict compliance of the law by the public official or employee was made impossible or difficult to comply by reason of the acts or omissions of the one tasked to enforce the law, then, the public official or employee must be relieved from strict compliance, and any error resulting therefrom must be permissively excused," it added.
The court concluded that because of the defective SALN form, Garcia's failure to declare all his assets therein was simply an honest mistake.
"Perjury cannot be willful where the oath is according to belief or conviction as to its truth. A false statement of a belief is not perjury. Bona fide belief in the truth of a statement is an adequate defense. A false statement which is obviously the result of an honest mistake is not perjury," the court said.
Finally, the court said it found the "confluence of errors to have caused the failure of the prosecution to prove the guilt of the accused beyond reasonable doubt."
In 2005, Garcia was convicted of graft and illegal possession of dual citizenship in a court martial.
He is facing two more counts of perjury in other division of the Sandiganbayan, in connection with his SALN for the years 1997 and 2000.
The Office of the Ombudsman had also filed a P303-million plunder case and two forfeiture cases against him, his wife and children Ian Carl, Juan Paulo, and Timothy Mark.
Garcia is detained at Camp Crame in Quezon City pending decision of his plunder case, which is also pending with the Second Division of the Sandiganbayan. (Sunnex)
