Motorcycle dealer’s workers, execs cleared of criminal complaints (Sabong News)
Author
Calvin Cordova
Date
MAY 02 2022
CEBU CITY — Officers and employees of an accredited motorcycle dealer and seller have been cleared of criminal complaints filed against them by the Land Transportation Office-Central Visayas (LTO 7).
Regional Prosecutor Fernando Gubalane has issued two separate resolutions denying the appeal of LTO-7 Regional Director Victor Emmanuel Caindec on the earlier dismissal of falsification charges against respondents Renie Tumon, an area manager; Joann Lanzaderas, a branch manager; employees Julio Arabejo Jr., Rovelyn Ranises and Emelita Binarao, all of DES Strong Motors, Inc. (DSMI).
Gubalane said the complaints against the DSMI officers and employees, as well as the company’s president, Dr. Silvestre Lumapas Jr., and corporate secretary, Marilou Lumapas, were dismissed for lack of merit.
“All told, the complainant-appellant in this instance has failed to establish probable cause against respondents-appellees for the offense alleged in the complaints,” said Gubalane.
On December 29, 2020, Caindec filed the complaints, alleging that on three separate occasions, the respondents conspired to falsify the commercial documents which they submitted or uploaded to LTO’s Do_It-Yourself System of reporting sales.
In a four-page resolution dated March 15, 2022, Gubalane denied the motion for reconsideration filed by Caindec and resolved that the dismissal of the complaints against the respondents stays.
In a separate five-page resolution dated March 29, 2022, Gubalane also denied the petition for review filed by Caindec on the December 16, 2021 on the dismissal of the complaint by the Mandaue City Prosecution Office for failure to present suitable proof to hold respondents liable for the crime charged.
Gubalane said the argument on the part of Caindec that respondents had possession and control of the questioned sales invoices because they admitted that said documents “were all issued by and in the name of DSMI” only shows that there is indeed no evidence in this case that would determine the precise participation and degree of culpability of each of the respondents in the perpetration of the crime alleged in the complaint.
The regional prosecutor explained that the mentioned admission pertains to acts supposedly done by and in the name of a legal entity with a personality separate and distinct from the respondents and which however is clearly not a party in this case.
“This Office will not sanction a ruling that will hold respondents-appellees for trial in court on the basis of a finding that they never denied the falsified entries in the sales invoices because that would be tantamount to guesswork. Besides, in this proceeding respondent-appellees are not called upon to disprove what the complainant-appellant failed to establish by independent and reliable evidence,” read the resolution.
