The Pasay Metropolitan Trial Court dismissed one of the charges filed against independent contractors Jojo Nones and Richard Cruz by actor Sandro Muhlach.

This comes after Pasay City Regional Trial Court Branch 46 granted Nones and Cruz’s motion to quash the two counts of acts of lasciviousness against them.

The court said the acts of lasciviousness case is an “overkill” because it can be considered an element of rape through sexual assault, which the Department of Justice filed in the Pasay Regional Court.

“Indeed, the acts of lasciviousness being complained of before this court are necessarily included in the charge of rape before the RTC,” the Pasay court said.

“Again, the prosecution resorted to an overkill by filing the instant Information for Acts of Lasciviousness when clearly the acts are constitutive and/or simultaneous and are deemed absorbed in the rape case with the alleged sole intent and purpose of arousing and ultimately gratifying the accused’ own sexual desires,” it added.

Earlier, the DoJ filed criminal cases against Nones and Cruz over the alleged sexual abuse of Muhlach.

No bail has been recommended for the rape charge.

The prosecutors found “prima facie evidence with reasonable certainty of conviction” to charge Nones and Cruz for sexual assault under Article 266-A paragraph 2 (Rape) of the Anti-Rape Law of 1997 and Acts of Lasciviousness under Article 336 of the Revised Penal Code.

Acting Prosecutor General Richard Fadullon said Muhlach identified Nones and Cruz as his alleged rapists and had “narrated in detail” what the two allegedly did to him.