MANILA — The Caloocan City Regional Trial Court (RTC) has found five officials from Barangay 48, Caloocan City guilty of falsification of public documents for forging five barangay resolutions.
Caloocan City RTC Branch 121 acting Presiding Judge Rosalia Hipolito-Bunagan sentenced barangay chairman Wilfredo Camus, and village councilors Benito Ching, Claro Ponce, Zacarias Ferrer and Ramon Acuña to suffer six months to eight years imprisonment.
The Caloocan City RTC also ordered the five accused to pay a PHP2,000 fine each.
The Office of the Ombudsman presented two witnesses who testified that the Sangguniang Barangay session held on Dec. 1, 2013 was a sham intended to illegally appoint disqualified officials Acuña, Shaneth Ponce, Claro Ponce, Ching and Ferrer as barangay officials.
The accused were also responsible for falsifying resolutions containing the appointment of the said officials.
In its decision, the RTC said that “both prosecution witnesses categorically stated that no meeting was held by the Sangguniang Barangay on December 1, 2013. Accused Acuña failed to contest this fact when he admitted that only he and other accused were present during that so-called meeting. There is also no convincing evidence that the Sanggunian was validly convened with the mere presence of accused Acuña and his allies co-accused.”
“More importantly, no competent witness was presented by the defense to corroborate its postulate of denial that all accused never committed the crime as charged in the Information. The bare assertions of accused Acuña in Court cannot, thus, be sustained,” the RTC added. (Perfecto Raymundo, Jr./PNA)
