THE Sandiganbayan has acquitted former Caluya, Antique mayor Genevive Lim-Reyes of charges of graft and violation of RA 8048 or the Coconut Preservation Act of 1995 in relation to the alleged illegal clearing of 245 fruit-bearing coconut trees to make way for a municipal relocation project in 2014.
In a 19-page decision dated October 22, 2021, the anti-graft court’s Fifth Division said the prosecution failed to prove the defendant’s guilt beyond reasonable doubt.
Associate Justice maria Theresa V. Mendoza-Arcega penned the ruling, with Associate Justices Maryann E. Corpus-Mañalac and Rafael R. Lagos, division chairperson, concurring.
The cases stemmed from a complaint filed by tenant farmer Juliet Ramos, who claimed she and her family planted the trees on the five-hectare land that was cleared by bulldozers.
She said the trees were felled to build an access road to a site picked by the local government for a relocation project.
The Sandiganbayan had earlier denied the mayor’s bid to have the cases dismissed outright after Ramos presented a few aging photographs showing several of the coconut trees still standing. This was bolstered by the testimony of other farmers from the area.
An officer of the Philippine Coconut Authority (PCA) also testified that the PCA never conducted a site inspection as required under RA 8048.
The defense, on the other hand, presented witnesses who said the cleared area was a pastureland, hence there were only a few trees. They also said the complainant’s area was in another end of the project site and was not touched by any clearing work.
