DAVAO CITY (June 12) — The Office of the Ombudsman charged former mayor Mohammadali Abboh Abinal of Marantao, Lanao del Sur, for failure to declare his firearms and cars in his 2007 to 2012 Statement of Assets Liabilities and Net Worth (SALN) he submitted.
Abinal was indicted for six counts each of violation of the anti-graft and corrupt practices act for the misrepresentations in his (SALNs).
It was found that Abinal failed to declare five firearms and a vehicle in his SALNs from 2007 to 2012.
The Ombudsman Resolution stated that “respondent made a willful and deliberate assertion of a falsehood when he failed to declare the mentioned assets in his SALNs. It must be stressed that he certified in his SALNs that the contents thereof are true statements of his assets and liabilities, including those of his wife and unmarried children below 18 years of age.”
“His claims that his firearms were either confiscated or lost and that his truck was scrapped are matters of defense involving factual issues, hence, should be fully explained and threshed out not in a preliminary investigation but during trial,” it added.
But Article 183 of the RPC, Perjury is committed by any person, who knowingly makes untruthful statements upon any material matter before a competent person authorized to administer an oath.-Harold V. Pontongan/NewsLine.ph
