Bicol Saro party-list Rep. Terry Ridon yesterday called the forgery of the affidavit of Senate witness Orly Regala Guteza “a damning exposure of a coordinated political operation built entirely on lies and fabricated evidence.”
“This ruling is a decisive vindication of fact over fiction. It reveals how falsehoods were deliberately engineered to mislead official inquiries and poison public discourse,” he said, referring to the decision of the Manila City Regional Trial Court that Guteza’s statement was falsified.
Ridon, the House infrastructure committee’s co-chairperson, urged the Department of Justice to immediately implement the court’s directive and prosecute all those responsible for this calculated falsification.
“This was no clerical mistake. It was a premeditated attempt to subvert truth and derail a Senate inquiry. The DOJ must act decisively so that political forgery never again finds refuge in impunity,” he said.
The court’s decision has restored integrity to institutional processes and vindicates those who had been unjustly maligned, the lawmaker added.
Former congressman Mike Defensor, however, described the forgery of Guteza’s affidavit as “immaterial.”
“The notarial service is only to make it a public document; he presented it already publicly and before the Blue Ribbon Committee. Substance ni Guteza is what is important,” said Defensor, who introduced Guteza to Senator Rodante Marcoleta.
“They are diverting the story towards the notary [falsification],” he insisted.
For its part, the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) said it is waiting for an invitation from the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee to present its findings on the alleged forgery of a lawyer’s signature in Guteza’s affidavit.
NBI Officer-in-Charge Angelito Magno stated that the Manila Regional Trial Court Branch 18 had earlier directed the bureau to examine the document after lawyer Petchie Rose Espera denied notarizing or signing the affidavit.
“If the signature was truly forged, then this will be a case of falsification of a public document because he presented it during a Senate hearing, allegedly notarized, he explained in Filipino.
Meanwhile, the Department of Justice (DOJ) clarified that Guteza’s statements during the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee hearing can still be used in the investigation of the anomalous flood control project.
In a press briefing, Prosecutor General Anthony Fadullon explained that even if they were not notarized, it does not mean that their contents were lies.
“In the Senate, when he spoke, he first took the oath. He is also bound by the oath that he took when he was in the Senate and when he testified before the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee, so if it can be used, I still believe it is something that can be useful,” he said.
Guteza, touted as Marcoleta’s “surprise witness,” claimed to be a former staff member of resigned Ako Bicol Party-list Rep. Zaldy Co.
He earlier testified in a Senate hearing that he delivered suitcases of money to the homes of Co and former House Speaker Martin Romualdez.
As this developed, former Philippine Bar Association president Rico Domingo said that Senator Rodante Marcoleta may be held liable if it is proven that he knew the affidavit of Orly Guteza was forged when he presented the latter as a witness before the Senate hearing.
In an interview with DZMM, Domingo explained that if someone knowingly uses or presents a falsified document in an official proceeding, they can be held criminally and administratively liable.
“If he knew that the allegedly notarized document was forged… if it can be proven that he knew it was presented, then he is considered one of them [those behind the falsification],” he said in Filipino.
Editor’s Note: This is an updated article. Originally posted with the headline: “Built on lies: Ridon blasts fake Guteza affidavit”
