MANILA - The Sandiganbayan First Division on Tuesday acquitted Caloocan City chief accountant Edna Centeno of 58 counts of falsification of official documents concerning the release of P86.14 million of the city's funds.

The falsification charges stemmed from the release of the amount to city disbursement officers Romancito Lising and Nestor Torres between October 1994 and June 1995 although both still had unliquidated cash advances amounting to P1.28 billion.

In a 16-page decision, the anti-graft court held that the prosecution failed to prove Centeno’s guilt beyond reasonable doubt particularly the fifth element of the offense requiring evidence that the defendant’s statement be ‘absolutely false’ in order that she can be held liable.

The court noted that disbursing officers had liquidated some of their cash advances, although incomplete. This, according to the Sandiganbayan, was sufficient basis to acquit Centeno.

“The Court finds that the statement made by the accused …that the disbursement officers’ ‘previous cash advance has been liquidated/accounted for’ was not absolutely false…because it had a semblance of truth,” it declared.

Associate Justice Norberto Geraldez, division chairman, penned the verdict concurred in by Associate Justices Alexander Gesmundo and Napoleon Inoturan.

Failure by the disbursement officers to render a full accounting or liquidation was understandable, the court said, since Lising and Torres were paymasters of the city government hence Centeno could not be expected to block the disbursement vouchers.

“As explained by the accused in her memorandum, the Dos are paymasters and that to delay the issuance of the certification by the Chief Accountant until previous accounts are settled would cause undue delay in the payment of the salaries and allowances of the City employees,” the Sandiganbayan pointed out.