G.R. No. 103911 October 13, 1995
EDGARDO E. LOPEZ, petitioner, vs. SANDIGANBAYAN (SECOND DIVISION), OFFICE OF THE SPECIAL PROSECUTOR and ARNULFO M. AGLERON, respondents.

FACTS

The Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) executed a Deed of Donation on December 10, 1987, for a Mitsubishi L-300 van to be used as an ambulance, in favor of the Municipality of Mati, Davao Oriental. The donation was accepted by then-Provincial Governor Leopoldo N. Lopez on behalf of the municipality. The vehicle was subsequently shipped, insured, and registered in the name of the Province of Davao Oriental. It was never delivered to the Municipality of Mati and was instead used by the Davao Oriental Provincial Hospital, located within Mati. The vehicle was later burned by unidentified armed men in 1988.
An Information for violation of the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act (R.A. 3019) was filed against Governor Lopez and petitioner Edgardo E. Lopez, the elected Municipal Mayor of Mati who assumed office only on February 2, 1988. After Governor Lopez’s death, an Amended Information was filed solely against Mayor Lopez. It alleged that as Mayor, he conspired with the Governor by failing to recover the donated ambulance for the municipality, causing it undue injury. Mayor Lopez moved to quash the Information, but the Sandiganbayan denied his motion, prompting this petition for certiorari.

ISSUE

Whether the Sandiganbayan committed grave abuse of discretion in denying the motion to quash the Information, which alleged that petitioner, as Mayor, conspired in a transaction occurring on December 10, 1987, when he was not yet in office.

RULING

Yes. The Supreme Court granted the petition and ordered the dismissal of the criminal case. The Court ruled that the Sandiganbayan committed grave abuse of discretion in refusing to take judicial notice of a decisive fact: petitioner Edgardo E. Lopez took his oath and assumed the office of Municipal Mayor only on February 2, 1988, as evidenced by his Oath of Office. The alleged conspiracy and overt act—the acceptance of the donation—occurred on December 10, 1987, when petitioner was a private citizen. Judicial notice of this fact was mandatory under Section 1, Rule 129 of the Rules of Court, as it was a matter of official record capable of unquestionable demonstration. The Information’s foundational allegation that petitioner was already the Mayor in December 1987 was therefore patently false.
Furthermore, the Court found no probable cause to sustain the prosecution. The donated ambulance, though formally in the name of the Municipality of Mati, was intended for and actually used by the Davao Oriental Provincial Hospital, a public health facility within the same municipality. Mati itself had no hospital to use an ambulance. Consequently, no undue injury was inflicted upon the municipality, and it was illogical to accuse Mayor Lopez of depriving his own office of a vehicle it could not functionally use as an ambulance. The prosecution was untenable and constituted an oppressive exercise of legal authority.