Sandiganbayan acquits ex-DA undersecretary of perjury

The Sandiganbayan has acquitted a former Department of Agriculture undersecretary in a perjury case over her alleged overvaluation of her Quezon City house and lot in her asset declarations in 2005 and 2006.

In an Aug. 9 ruling, the Seventh Division found that the prosecution was unable to prove that Belinda Gonzales willfully and deliberately made a falsehood—one of the four elements of the crime of perjury—in her 2005 and 2006 Statements of Assets, Liabilities and Net Worth (SALN).

The Office of the Ombudsman accused  Gonzales of stating in her SALNs that she acquired a house and lot in Project 6 in 2002 for P2.6 million despite knowing she had purchased the property for only P900,000.

But she claimed that the P900,000 indicated in the Deed of Absolute Sale was only for the land, and that she paid a total of P2.6 million for both the house and the lot. She argued she made the SALN entries in good faith.

The Revised Penal Code prescribes a penalty of up to six months imprisonment for persons convicted of perjury, the crime in which one deliberately makes a false statement on a material matter under oath, and in cases required by law.

In its decision, the Sandiganbayan found that the evidence presented showed that the Deed of Absolute Sale referred only to the parcel of land and that Gonzales indeed paid P2.6 million for both the lot and the townhouse built on it.

"For these reasons, we find worthy of belief accused's claim that any falsehood in her subject declarations could not be considered as deliberate, as she only stated in her 2005 and 2006 SALNs what she honestly believed to be the acquisition cost of her property," the court ruled.

It held that the prosecution "failed to prove any evil intent or legal malice" that might have prompted Gonzales to declare a false value in her SALNs.

In acquitting Gonzales, the Sandiganbayan also lifted the hold departure order against her and ordered the release of the cash bond she had posted, subject to the usual accounting and auditing procedures.

The ruling was written by Associate Justice Zaldy Trespeses with concurrences by Associate Justices Ma. Theresa Dolores Gomez-Estoesta and Georgina Hidalgo. — BM, GMA News