Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, January 10) — The Sandiganbayan has cleared former Dumanjug, Cebu Mayor Efren Gica from graft, malversation, and falsification of documents charges filed against him over an alleged tampering of a restaurant receipt.
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Gica was accused of falsifying the receipt to make it appear that a 2014 dinner for the Association of Local Budget Officers seminar in Cebu City cost ₱21,435 instead of just ₱11,435.
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But in its decision dated Dec. 9, 2022 but uploaded only recently, the anti-graft court’s Fourth Division said the prosecution failed to prove Gica’s guilt beyond reasonable doubt.
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“Where there is reasonable doubt, the accused must be acquitted even though his innocence may not have been established. Upon examination of the evidence presented, the Court finds that the prosecution failed to prove the guilt of the accused with moral certainty,” the court ruled.
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It said prosecutors failed to prove the former mayor provided an untruthful document because they were unable to present the real receipt showing the real cost of the meal. They instead presented the alleged falsified receipt backed only by a letter from the restaurant manager.
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“Since no probative value can be accorded to the letter of the branch manager, who did not testify in Court to prove the correct amount of the receipt, there is reasonable doubt whether the accused indeed misappropriated ₱10,000 which supposedly represent the difference in the genuine and falsified receipt,” the court explained.
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