Ronnie Ricketts
The Supreme Court has acquitted actor and former Optical Media Board (OMB) chair Ronnie Ricketts of graft over a questionable raid of pirated digital video discs (DVDs) and video compact discs (VCDs) in Quiapo, Manila, in 2010.
The Supreme Court鈥檚 Second Division reversed the Sandiganbayan鈥檚 March 15, 2019, guilty verdict on Ricketts, who was sentenced to six to eight years鈥� imprisonment.
But the five-member division affirmed the Sandiganbayan鈥檚 guilty verdict on OMB computer operator Glenn Perez, who was sentenced to the same prison term and perpetually disqualified from holding public office.
The Supreme Court ruled that the evidence against Ricketts was 鈥渕ere hearsay鈥� while Perez was 鈥渃aught red-handed.鈥�
Ricketts, Perez and three OMB directors were charged by the Ombudsman with graft for allegedly causing the return of over 120 boxes of confiscated pirated DVDs and VCDs to their manufacturer, Sky High Marketing, and for not filing any complaints against the persons arrested in the Quiapo raid.
In 2019, the Sandiganbayan acquitted the three OMB directors but convicted Ricketts and Perez, who appealed before the Supreme Court.
In a decision dated March 16, 2022, that was uploaded to its website on July 28, the Supreme Court Second Division said the prosecution failed to prove Ricketts鈥� 鈥減articipation in the crime beyond reasonable doubt.鈥�
鈥淎t the very least, the testimony of the security guard should not have been made the sole basis to conclude that Ricketts intentionally took part in the planning, preparation and execution of the alleged conspiracy to defraud the government by ordering Perez to release the seized items,鈥� the high court said.Perez, on the other hand, was 鈥渃aught red-handedly taking out the seized items without written authorization,鈥� the Supreme Court said.
鈥淧erez鈥檚 justifications for his actions are irrelevant since the mere act of taking out and returning the seized items without written authority from the OMB amounts to giving an unwarranted benefit to the owner of the seized items,鈥� it continued.
The Supreme Court acknowledged that, 鈥渁s a rule, findings of fact of the Sandiganbayan, as a trial court, are accorded great weight and respect.鈥�