G.R. No. 229065 - REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES, VS. THE SANDIGANBAYAN (2ND DIVISION)* AND HEIRS OF BENJAMIN ("KOKOY") ROMUALDEZ.D E C I S I O N - Supreme Court E-Library

Ruling

WHEREFORE, in the light of all the foregoing, the Court hereby GRANTS the motion and accordingly orders the [Republic] to produce or allow the [heirs of Romualdez] to inspect the following requested documents: 1) The official records which were used as the basis for the filing of the Third Amended Complaint and upon which the verification that the allegations in said Third Amended Complaint are true and correct is based; 2) The official records which were used as basis for the issuance of writs of sequestration against the properties listed in Annex "A" of the Third Amended Complaint; and, 3) Official records which were used for the inclusion of the [heirs of Romualdez] who are alleged to have acted in conspiracy and collaboration with herein defendants in this case, and other documents and evidence relied upon as the basis for the dropping of some original defendants in this case. The [heirs of Romualdez] are further granted a period of thirty (30) days from the production or inspection of those documents within which to file their responsive pleading. In this respect, the [heirs of Romualdez] are hereby ordered to make the proper manifestation to the Court as to when the production or inspection of documents has been completed or terminated. [10] After a series of postponements, the heirs of Romualdez were permitted on May 9, 2014 to peruse the voluminous documents from the PCGG's vault. All the same, the heirs of Romualdez requested that the inspection be moved to another date because they wanted to see the originals of the official records. Thus, the inspection was reset to June 26, 2014. Much to the Republic's dismay, the heirs of Romualdez abruptly terminated the proceedings and filed a Motion to Dismiss [11] on the ground that while they were allowed to inspect the official records supporting the causes of action in the Third Amended Complaint, the same were just photocopies. Hence, such documents were inadmissible by virtue of the Best Evidence Rule under Rule 130, Section 3 of the Rules of Court. [12] On November 20, 2014, the Sandiganbayan denied the heirs of Romualdez's Motion to Dismiss, [13] ruling that their postulations actually bear on the admissibility of the Republic's evidence. In this context, it would be untimely to rule on the admissibility of the official records which were utilized as the cornerstone of the Third Amended Complaint since they were not yet formally offered as evidence. Likewise, the claim of the heirs of Romualdez that the official records in PCGG's possession were photocopies did not constitute a ground to dismiss the Third Amended Complaint. [14] The heirs of Romualdez subsequently moved for reconsideration [15] of the November 20, 2014 Resolution of the Sandiganbayan. Contrary to what was indicated in the Verification and Certification executed by PCGG Commissioner Herminio A. Mendoza (Commissioner Mendoza), they avouched that the declarations in the Third Amended Complaint could not have been grounded on