Republic of the Philippines

Department of Justice
NATIONAL PROSECUTION SERVICE
OFFICE OF THE CITY PROSECUTOR
City of Lucena

EUGENIA CATAUSAN,
Complainant,

-versus- NPS Docket No. IV-16-INV-19C-00099

For: Violation of Article 183 (Perjury)
of RPC

MARINA H. MERCURIO,
Respondent.

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COUNTER AFFIDAVIT

I, MARINA H. MERCURIO, of legal age, married, and resident of Gloria

St., Barangay Parang, Pagbilao, Quezon, after having been duly sworn to in
accordance with law hereby depose and say:

1. That I am the same person charged in this case by Private Complainant

Eugenia Catausan for Perjury under Article 183 of the Revised Penal Code.

2. That I vehemently deny the charges against me because of the following

facts and circumstances:

3. That on April 2, 2013, I was charged administratively and criminally by the

complainant together with the other respondents Eladio Martinez, Rochelle
Pornobi and Marlene Valdejueza before the Ombudsman for falsification of
public documents and grave misconduct.
4. That on May 22, 2014, the Ombudsman ordered the cases against us
DISMISSED for lack of merit and basis. A motion for reconsideration of the
order was filed by the complainant but it was also denied. Afterwards, the
complainant opted to appeal the decision of the Ombudsman in the
administrative case to the Court of Appeals.

5. That on August 6, 2017, the respondent compulsorily retired from

government service. In order to avail herself of retirement benefits and
pensions from the government and the GSIS she secured different clearances
from national agencies including the Office of the Ombudsman.

6. That on February 6, 2017, Atty. Maria Agnes L. Forteza, Graft Investigation

Officer I, Office of the Ombudsman issued me a clearance, certifying that I
have no pending criminal and administrative cases before the Ombudsman.
And the clearance was issued for the purpose of my retirement. The
photocopy of the clearance issued by the Ombudsman to me is hereto
attached as Annex “A”.

7. That relying on the clearance given by the Ombudsman I executed a sworn

statement before a notary public Atty. Francis Xavier C. Sia that I have no
pending criminal and administrative cases filed against me.

8. That in her complaint before this Honorable Office, I am being charged by

the complainant of making a false statement under oath that I have no
pending administrative case before the court in order to claim the payment
of my terminal leave and retirement benefits. When in truth and in fact the
appeal made by the complainant still pending before the Court of Appeals.

9. That under the implementing rules and regulations of Republic Act No.
1154 otherwise known as “an act requiring all concerned government
agencies to insure the early release the retirement pay, pensions, gratuities
and other benefits of retiring government employees, an administrative
disciplinary case is considered pending when the disciplining authority has
issued a formal charge or a notice of charge/s to the respondent while a
 criminal case shall be considered pending from the time an information or
complaint is filed in court”.

10. That meanwhile, in order to be liable for the crime of perjury the accused
must make a willful and deliberate assertion of a falsehood in her affidavit.

11. That contrary to the allegations of the complainant, I did not make a willful
and deliberate assertion of a falsehood when I stated that I have no pending
criminal and/or administrative charges filed against me. This is because at
that time I executed the affidavit the charges against me where already
dismissed by the Ombudsman. The appeal made by the complainant does
not make the case pending before the Court of Appeals since no formal
charges have been filed against me by any disciplining authority.

12. That moreover, in order to prove that I have no pending case, the
Ombudsman issued me a clearance certifying that no formal charges has
been filed against me, negating the claim of the complainant.

13.That for this reason, there is no probable cause to sufficiently indict me for
perjury. This is because my statement that I have no pending case is not false
despite the appeal made by the complainant to the Court of Appeals, since
during that time no formal charge has been filed against me in any court or
tribunal.

WHEREFORE, in view of the foregoing it is hereby respectfully prayed that

the case for perjury filed against me be DISMISSED for lack of probable cause
because of the above stated reasons.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto affixed my signature this ____

day of May, 2019 at Lucena City.

MARINA H. MERCURIO