MANILA: The Taguig City Prosecutor’s Office has dismissed the perjury complaints filed by Vice President Sara Duterte against Ramil Madriaga, her alleged former aide.
In a 19-page decision released on Thursday (Sept 10), the prosecutors junked Duterte’s complaint against Madriaga due to “insufficiency of evidence.”
“While complainant has presented evidence disputing respondent’s assertions, the evidence presently on record does not establish prima facie, with reasonable certainty of conviction, that respondent knowingly and willfully made materially false statements under oath in violation of Article 183 of the Revised Penal Code,” the Taguig Prosecutor’s Office said in the decision.
“Accordingly, the Complaint must be dismissed for insufficiency of evidence,” the prosecutor added.
It was in March when Duterte filed her first perjury complaint against Madriaga after her supposed former aide submitted an affidavit to the Office of the Ombudsman claiming that he had delivered large sums of money to different people under her instructions.
The vice president denied the accusation, maintaining that she had neither personal nor professional dealings with Madriaga, and that his claim of having served as her “bagman’’ or courier for diverted confidential funds was false.
Duterte filed another perjury complaint in August consisted of approximately 1,000 pages, which “thoroughly exposes Madriaga’s malicious and deliberate falsehoods.” - Philippine Daily Inquirer/ANN
