Daily Tribune"This was no clerical mistake — it was a premeditated attempt to subvert truth and derail a Senate inquiry,” Ridon emphasized
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Bicol Saro Rep. Terry Ridon
Photograph courtesy of House of Representatives
House Infrastructure Committee Co-Chairperson Terry Ridon of the Bicol Saro Party-list on Tuesday said that the Manila Regional Trial Court’s ruling confirming that the affidavit of Orly Regala Guteza was forged is “a damning exposure of a coordinated political operation built entirely on lies and fabricated evidence.”
“This ruling is a decisive vindication of fact over fiction,” Ridon said.
“It reveals how falsehoods were deliberately engineered to mislead official inquiries and poison public discourse,” he added.
On 25 September, Guteza, a former consultant of former Ako Bicol Party-list representative Zaldy Co, was presented by Sen. Rodante Marcoleta as a witness in the Senate panel’s hearing on flood control.
In his testimony, Guteza claimed that he delivered 46 “basura” (trash)—a codename for suitcases of money—to Zaldy Co and former House Speaker Martin Romualdez.
On 24 October 2025, Executive Judge Carolina C. Icasiano-Sison ruled that Guteza failed to rebut the presumption that he authored the forged notarization of the Sinumpaang Salaysay. The court cleared Atty. Petchie Rose Espera, whose notarial details were falsified, and ordered the Department of Justice (DOJ) to investigate Guteza and all others who used or circulated the forged document.
Rep. Ridon urged the DOJ to immediately implement the court’s directive and prosecute all those responsible for what he described as a “calculated falsification.”
“This was no clerical mistake—it was a premeditated attempt to subvert truth and derail a Senate inquiry,” Ridon emphasized.
“The DOJ must act decisively so that political forgery never again finds refuge in impunity,” he added.
Ridon noted that Senate and House legislative inquiries depend on the authenticity of the documents submitted to them. He said fabricated evidence used to manipulate proceedings is an attack on Congress.
“Our democracy cannot thrive on deceit,” Ridon said.
“Those who forged, spread, or exploited false documents must be held fully accountable—before the law and before the people,” he added.
