MANILA — The Sandiganbayan Third Division has acquitted former Albay governor Edcel Greco “Grex” Lagman of indirect bribery and violating the Anti-Illegal Numbers Game Act, ruling that the prosecution failed to establish his guilt beyond reasonable doubt.

In a decision promulgated Friday, the anti-graft court said the prosecution’s key witnesses had recanted their sworn statements accusing Lagman of receiving payoffs in exchange for protecting illegal jueteng operations in Albay.

Among the witnesses was Alwin Nimo, a former Sangguniang Kabataan chairperson of Barangay Anislag, who claimed Lagman received weekly payments of ₱60,000.

The court said the witnesses’ original sworn statements could be admitted as independently relevant statements but could no longer be used to establish the truth of the allegations after they testified contrary to their earlier accounts.

This left the prosecution with other evidence, including a Toyota Fortuner allegedly used to deliver jueteng payola to Lagman and 60 bank deposit slips showing cash deposits in small denominations under his name.

However, the court ruled that the remaining evidence could not be used to corroborate the witnesses’ recanted allegations or establish the context of the alleged transactions.

“Pursuant to the Rules on Evidence and related jurisprudence, the truth of the matters contained in these independently relevant statements cannot now be used to give context or assign corroborative roles to these remaining pieces of evidence, thereby, leaving the Court with no inference to be derived in determining whether Lagman is indeed guilty of the crimes charged,” the Sandiganbayan said.

The court added that Lagman’s position as vice governor, considered alongside the remaining evidence, was insufficient to establish his guilt with moral certainty.

The prosecution had accused Lagman of receiving payments from jueteng operators during his tenure as vice governor in exchange for protecting their operations in the province.