The Sandiganbayan Sixth Division granted the motion of the Office of the Ombudsman to withdraw the case it filed against Domingo Razon Tolentino, a former assistant secretary for the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) over alleged falsification of public documents.

In a resolution promulgated on 13 July, the Sandiganbayan said that the Ombudsman stated in its own resolution that its evidence did not point to the fact that the actions that were allegedly committed by Tolentino did not cause any amount of damage to the government.

“The mere possibility that the government could have collected such penalty, absent clear proof that collection was in fact avoided or circumvented due to respondent’s acts, does not satisfy the requirement of undue injury,” the investigative body said.

Given the development in the case, the anti-graft court acted on the matter in accordance with the ruling on the Supreme Court case of Crespo vs Mogul wherein a fiscal that seeks a reinvestigation of a case, the information once filed before the court subjects it to its jurisdiction.

The Sandiganbayan likewise stated a provision under Section 4 of Presidential Decree No. 1606 wherein a case that “does not allege any damage to the government or any bribery” in amounts exceeding P1 million fall under the jurisdiction of the Regional Trial Court (RTC).

In the original case filed by the Ombudsman against Tolentino on 4 June 2018, the accused was said to have taken advantage of “his official position and committing the offense in relation to his office” through the falsification of documents.

The crime came when DTI officials made it appear that the application of Joferds Trading and Rebuilding Center was filed to the Fair Trade Enforcement Bureau (FTEB) on 16 May 2018, when it was actually submitted on 25 May.

Given the withdrawal of the information, the anti-graft court said that the hold departure order on Tolentino was lifted and the bail that he submitted was set for release.