UNLESS former Armed Forces chief of staff
Lisandro C. Abadia can successfully counter government evidence
against him, he will face certain conviction for perjury, the
Sandiganbayan First Division said.
In a resolution promulgated April 16, the
graft court junked Abadia’s challenge on the sufficiency of the
prosecution’s evidence against him. "At this stage of the
proceedings, the prosecution’s testimonial and documentary
evidence are sufficient for purposes of finding accused guilty
of the offense charged," the court declared.
Abadia was directed to start presenting
evidence in his defense on May 19, 20 and 21.
Ombudsman investigators showed that Abadia
declared an extra income of P2.55 million supposedly from the
sale of his real property in Talisay, Cebu in March 1992 in
statement of assets, liabilities and net worth for that same
year.
However, prosecutor Janina Hidalgo presented
documents from the Talisay Registry of Deeds and the Bureau of
Internal Revenue which showed the subject property was sold for
only P200,000. This was corroborated by lawyer Manolo Rubi,
Register of Deeds for Cebu.
When the Ombudsman ordered the filing of
perjury and forfeiture cases against him in 2004, Abadia
presented a handwritten receipt and a memorandum of agreement
with the buyers but the Ombudsman rejected both for being filed
belatedly and being mere machine copies.
"(The evidence) show that accused (Abadia’s)
as-sertion of an increase in his income by P2,550,000 from the
sale of real property is false. Accused should explain the
apparent conflict between the entry in his 1992 SALN and the
documents presented by the prosecution," the court said.
The court also dismissed Abadia’s contention
that he should have been given the chance to correct the error
in his SALN, citing as precedent a similar perjury case over his
SALN against President Joseph Estrada who was acquitted. The
court said Estrada was indicted for an incomplete SALN whereas
Abadia was charged for making a false claim in his SALN.
Former Ombudsman Simeon Marcelo, who ordered Abadia’s
indictment for alleged ill-gotten wealth and the filing of
forfeiture petition with the Sandiganbayan, said properties
worth more than P11 million acquired by the former AFP chief and
his wife Violeta were disproportionate to their combined income.
– Peter J.G. Tabingo
