In Republic v. Sandiganbayan, GR No. 159275, Aug. 25, 2010, the Supreme Court allowed the Republic to present additional evidence and recall witnesses as prayed for in its Motion to Reopen Plaintiff’s Presentation of Evidence, on the following doctrinal pronouncements, to wit:
1. CERTIORARI, when motion for reconsideration not needed. - As a rule, the special civil action of certiorari under Rule 65 of the 1997 Rules of Civil Procedure, as amended, lies only when the lower court has been given the opportunity to correct the error imputed to it through a motion for reconsideration of the assailed order or resolution.[21] This rule, though, has certain exceptions: (1) when the issue raised is purely of law, (2) when public interest is involved, or (3) in cases of urgency. As a fourth exception, the Court has also ruled that the filing of a motion for reconsideration before availment of the remedy of certiorari is not a sine qua non, when the questions raised are the same as those that have already been squarely argued and exhaustively passed upon by the lower court.[22]
Aside from the public interest involved in the recovery of alleged ill-gotten wealth by the Government, it was shown that the issue herein raised by petitioner had already been squarely argued by it and amply discussed by public respondent in its assailed resolution. Hence, the requirement of prior filing of a motion for reconsideration may be dispensed with.
2. INTERLOCUTORY ORDER defined. - Contrary to public respondent’s posture, its order denying admission to petitioner’s documentary exhibits, as well as the denial of the motion to reopen for presentation of additional evidence for plaintiff, was merely interlocutory. An order that does not finally dispose of the case, and does not end the Court’s task of adjudicating the parties’ contentions and determining their rights and liabilities as regards each other, but obviously indicates that other things remain to be done by the Court, is interlocutory.[23]
Certiorari is an appropriate remedy to assail an interlocutory order (1) when the tribunal issued such order without or in excess of jurisdiction or with grave abuse of discretion; and (2) when the assailed interlocutory order is patently erroneous, and the remedy of appeal would not afford adequate and expeditious relief.[24] Recourse to a petition for certiorari to assail an interlocutory order is now expressly recognized in the ultimate paragraph of Section 1, Rule 41 of the Revised Rules of Court on the subject of appeal, which states:[25]
In all the above instances where the judgment or final order is not appealable, the aggrieved party may file an appropriate special civil action under Rule 65.
Public respondent seriously erred in denying the motion to reopen for presentation of additional evidence on the basis of the supposed “final and executory” ruling which denied admission of Exhibits “B” to “E” in the Formal Offer of Evidence filed by the petitioner. Admission of additional evidence is addressed to the sound discretion of the trial court. Indeed, in the furtherance of justice, the court may grant the parties the opportunity to adduce additional evidence bearing upon the main issue in question.[26] The remedy of reopening a case for presenting further proofs was meant to prevent a miscarriage of justice.[27]
While it is true that the 1997 Rules of Civil Procedure, as amended, prescribed an order of trial (Section 5, Rule 30), relaxation of the rule is permitted in sound discretion of the court. According to Justice Jose Y. Feria in his annotations on civil procedure:
3. ADDITIONAL EVIDENCE, when allowed. - After the parties have produced their respective direct proofs, they are allowed to offer rebutting evidence only, but, it has been held, the court, for good reasons in the furtherance of justice, may permit them to offer evidence upon their original case, and its ruling will not be disturbed in the appellate court where no abuse of discretion appears. So, generally, additional evidence is allowed when it is newly discovered, or where it has been omitted through inadvertence or mistake, or where the purpose of the evidence is to correct evidence previously offered.[28]
Considering that petitioner, in requesting to reopen the presentation of additional evidence after it has rested its case, sought to present documentary exhibits consisting of certified copies which had earlier been denied admission for being photocopies, additional documents previously mentioned in its pre-trial brief and new additional evidence material in establishing the main issue of ill-gotten wealth allegedly amassed by the private respondents, singly or collectively, public respondent should have, in the exercise of sound discretion, properly allowed such presentation of additional evidence. Bearing in mind that even if the originals of the documentary exhibits offered as additional evidence have been in the custody of the PCGG since the filing of the complaint or at least at the time of the preparation of its original pre-trial brief in September 1990, public respondent should have duly considered the explanation given by PCGG Commissioner Ruben C. Carranza and PCGG Librarian Ma. Lourdes O. Magno in their respective affidavits[29] attached to the motion, as to the belated discovery of the original documentary evidence which had long been in the possession of PCGG. Given the voluminous documents and papers involved in ill-gotten wealth cases, it was indeed unavoidable that in the course of trial certain documentary exhibits were omitted or unavailable by inadvertence, as what had happened in this case where the subject original documentary evidence were found misfiled in a different case folder.
Lamentably, public respondent peremptorily denied petitioner’s plea for a chance to present additional evidence vital to its case, saying that it cannot “just simply brush aside what had been taken up [after these years of hearing],” and even alluding to the supposed “adverse consequences to the time honored orderly presentation of evidence and the universally acclaimed expeditious, speedy and inexpensive disposition of all action[s] and proceedings.” On the other hand, respondent Silverio contended that allowing the motion to reopen would only cause him to suffer further “harassment and injustice.” However, perusal of the records plainly reveals that petitioner was not responsible for the delay in the prosecution of this case. The protracted litigation was due to the numerous pleadings, postponements and various motions filed by respondents Marcoses. Clearly, public respondent’s rigid application of the rule on order of trial was arbitrary, improper and in utter disregard of the demands of substantial justice.
4. TECHNICAL RULES not applicable in ill-gotten wealth cases. - Executive Order No. 14, series of 1986, issued by former President Corazon C. Aquino, provided that technical rules of procedure and evidence shall not be strictly applied to cases involving ill-gotten wealth. Apropos is our pronouncement in Republic v. Sandiganbayan (Third Division):[30]
In all cases involving alleged ill-gotten wealth brought by or against the Presidential Commission on Good Government, it is the policy of this Court to set aside technicalities and formalities that serve merely to delay or impede their judicious resolution. This Court prefers to have such cases resolved on the merits before the Sandiganbayan. Substantial justice to all parties, not mere legalisms or perfection of form, should now be relentlessly pursued. Eleven years have passed since the government started its search for and reversion of such alleged ill-gotten wealth. The definitive resolution of such cases on the merits is thus long overdue. If there is adequate proof of illegal acquisition, accumulation, misappropriation, fraud or illicit conduct, let it be brought out now. Let the titles over these properties be finally determined and quieted down with all reasonable speed, free of delaying technicalities and annoying procedural sidetracks. (Emphasis supplied.)
5. LIBERALITY. - It was incumbent upon the public respondent to adopt a liberal stance in the matter of procedural technicalities. More so in the instant case where the showing of a prima facie case of ill-gotten wealth was sustained by this Court in Silverio v. Presidential Commission on Good Government in No. L-77645 under the Resolution dated October 26, 1987.[31] Petitioner should be given the opportunity to fully present its evidence and prove that the various business interests of respondent Silverio “have enjoyed considerable privileges obtained from [respondent] former President Marcos during [the latter’s] tenure as Chief Executive in violation of existing laws; privileges which could not have been so obtained were it not for the close association of [Silverio] with the former President.”[32] No element of surprise could have been intended in the motion to reopen considering that these documentary exhibits were either certified copies of the originals in the custody of the PCGG, properly identified by the witness who prepared the same (Godofredo dela Paz) and statements under oath from a testimony given before the US District Court by respondent Silverio himself.
6. GRAVE ABUSE OF DISCRETION. - The term “grave abuse of discretion” connotes capricious and whimsical exercise of judgment as is equivalent to excess, or a lack of jurisdiction. The abuse must be so patent and gross as to amount to an evasion of a positive duty or a virtual refusal to perform a duty enjoined by law, or to act at all in contemplation of law as where the power is exercised in an arbitrary and despotic manner by reason of passion or hostility.[33]
Public respondent gravely abused its discretion in disallowing the presentation of additional evidence by the petitioner after the latter made a formal offer of documentary evidence, at the time the respondents had not even commenced the presentation of their evidence. Such arbitrary denial of petitioner’s motion to reopen for presentation of additional evidence would result in serious miscarriage of justice as it deprives the Republic of the chance to fully prove its case against the respondents and recover what could be “illegally-gotten” wealth.
