Criminal plaints vs staff of motorcycle dealer junked

CEBU, Philippines — The Office of the Provincial Prosecutor has dismissed the criminal complaints filed by the Land Transportation Office (LTO) in Central Visayas against the officers and employees of DES Strong Motors, Inc., an accredited dealer and seller of motorcycles.

In a four-page joint resolution dated February 18, 2021, Provincial Prosecutor Ludivico Vistal Cutaran approved the recommendation of Investigating Prosecutor Ivy Gonzales for the dismissal of the criminal complaints for lack of merit.

Filed on December 29, 2020, LTO-7 Director Victor Emmanuel Caindec alleged that on three separate occasions, the respondents conspired to falsify the commercial documents which they submitted or uploaded to LTO’s Do It-Yourself System of reporting sales.

Named respondents are Renie Tumon, area manager; Joann Lanzaderas, branch manager; and employees Julio Arabejo Jr., Rovelyn Ranises and Emelita Binarao, all of Des Strong Motors, Inc.

Also named respondents are Dr. Silvestre Lumapas Jr. and Marilou Lumapas, the company’s president and corporate secretary, respectively.

Caindec alleged that respondents had submitted sales invoices to the LTO containing “untruthful statements in a narration of facts, specifically as to the purchase price and date of the motorcycles.”

But the investigating prosecutor found out that the names of persons who prepared the sales invoices in question did not appear anywhere in the documents.

Gonzales pointed out that the uncontroverted allegation of Caindec that only Arabejo, Ranises and Binarao were authorized to upload the sales invoices to LTO’s system.

“The logical conclusion, therefore, is that any of these three respondents did actually upload the falsified sales invoices,” Gonzales said.

However, Gonzales stressed that the ones who uploaded the documents may not be the same persons who actually prepared the same.

The investigating prosecutor also noticed a disparity between the specimen signatures contained in the “Authority of Representative” with the signatures appearing in the sales invoices.

“Consequently, there is no conclusive proof that indeed either one of the respondents Arabejo, Jr., Ranises, or Binarao or even respondents Tumon or Lanzaderas was the one who actually falsified the sales invoices that were submitted to the LTO. More importantly, there is no allegation in the complaint that these five respondents are the only persons who could prepare the company’s sales invoices,” Gonzales further said.

Gonzales also found no specific act that could conclusively demonstrate that respondents Silvestre Lumapas Jr. and Marilou Lumapas conspired with any other person in the preparation and uploading of the sales invoices in question.

Likewise, she said that there was nothing on record to show the community of criminal design amongst the respondents.

“Thus, to the mind of the undersigned, to indict the respondents of the charges against them would be without proper and sufficient basis,” the investigating prosecutor added. — KQD (FREEMAN)