Taguig City prosecutors have dismissed the perjury charges filed by Vice President Sara Duterte against Ramil Madriaga, her self-described former bagman, citing a lack of evidence to prove deliberate falsehood.
In a 19-page resolution dated September 2 and released Thursday, the Taguig City Prosecutor’s Office stated that although Duterte provided documents contradicting Madriaga’s sworn statement, the submissions failed to establish that he intentionally lied under oath.
“On this point, the evidence is wanting. The present record principally reveals competing factual narratives,” wrote Assistant City Prosecutor Duke Thaddeus Maog. “It does not independently establish that respondent knowingly and deliberately asserted falsehoods under oath upon material matters.”
The legal dispute originated from a November 2025 affidavit in which Madriaga claimed he personally delivered duffel bags containing confidential funds to Col. Raymund Dante Lachica. Duterte filed the perjury complaint in March to challenge those assertions.
Lachica, the former head of the now-disbanded Vice Presidential Security and Protection Group (VPSPG), is a key figure in Article I of the Senate impeachment trial against Duterte, which alleges the diversion of ₱612.5 million in confidential funds. Former Special Disbursing Officer Gina Acosta testified in the trial that she surrendered ₱125 million in confidential funds to Lachica on Duterte’s orders.
While Duterte presented official certifications and sworn declarations that prosecutors acknowledged cast doubt on elements of Madriaga’s narrative, the prosecutor’s office emphasized that Article 183 of the Revised Penal Code requires explicit proof of willful deceit.
“The law does not punish every inaccurate, mistaken, exaggerated, or even improbable statement made under oath,” the resolution clarified. “It punishes only those statements which the affiant knows to be false and nevertheless deliberately asserts as true.”
Maog emphasized that dismissing the complaint does not confirm the truth of Madriaga’s claims, noting that the ruling “signifies only that the evidence presently submitted is insufficient to establish the particular offense of perjury.”
He added that the decision should not be viewed as “validating, invalidating, prejudging” any ongoing proceedings before the Senate impeachment court, the House of Representatives, or the Office of the Ombudsman.
Madriaga remains detained at Camp Bagong Diwa in Taguig City over an unrelated kidnapping-for-ransom case.