PEOPLE OF THE PHILIPPINES v. ROLANDO A. CUEVAS Owner/Proprietor of MONACAT TRADING (with business address at Unit 2, Matic Building, National Highway, Canlalay, Bi?an City, Laguna or 2915 Calia Street, Elvinda Village, San Pedro City, Laguna) MERMELINDA C. DELA CRUZ Room 437, 4th Floor, Regina Building, Escolta, Manila (-ALL AT LARGE)-

... REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES COURT OF TAX APPEALS QUEZON CITY SPECIAL SECOND DIVISION PEOPLE OF THE PHILIPPINES, CTA CRIM. CASE NO. 0-1184 Plaintiff, For: Violation of Section 3602, in -versus- relation to Section 2503 of the Tariff and Customs Code of the Philippines (TCCP), as amended ROLANDO A. CUEVAS, Members: Owner/Proprietor of MONACAT TRADING RINGPIS-LIBAN, P.J, Chairperson, (with business address at Unit 2, Matic MODESTO-SAN PEDRO, and Building, National Highway, FERRER-FLORES, JJ Canlalay, Bifian City, Laguna or 2915 Calia Street, Elvinda Village, San Pedro City, Laguna) MERMELINDA C. DELA CRUZ, (Room 437, 4th Floor, Regina Building, Escolta Manila) Promulgated: (-ALL AT LARGE-), J ,, if � .':/ Y-rt(:'_.- ------- Accused. X-- -- - -- - - -- - - -- - -- - -- -- - -- -- -- -- - -- -- -- - -- X RESOLUTION Before the Court is the prosecution's Motion for Reconsideration (of the Resolution of the Honorable Court dated 9 June 2025) (Motion) filed on July 3, 2025. In the Resolution dated December 13, 2024, 1 the Court found that plaintiff failed to attach the original or certified true copies of the annexes referred to in the Complaint-Affidavit of Alexander D.G. Ugay and Doy 0. De Castro. As such, the Court directed plaintiff to submit the originals or certified true copies of said annexes and in view thereof, held in abeyance the determination of probable cause for the issuance of warrant of arrest. 1 Docket, pp. 77 to 79.

RESOLUTION CTA CRIM. Case No. 0-1184 Page 2 of4 Plaintiff, however, failed to comply with the aforesaid directive; hence, on June 9, 2025, the Court found the supporting documents on record insufficient to establish a prima facie case against the accused and dismissed the Information filed on July 10, 2024 without prejudice.2 In its Motion, plaintiff implores the Court to set aside and reconsider the aforementioned Resolution and reinstitute the Information on the grounds that the scanned copies of the annexes referred to in the Complaint- Affidavit of Ugay and De Castro were submitted in a universal serial bus drive (USB) and that the original or certified true copies of which were subject of a fire incident in the Bureau of Customs (BOC). Allegedly, the fire incident was evidenced by a certification from the Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP) accounting for the aforesaid catastrophe that happened on February 22, 2019, and the Affidavit of Ms. Darlyn Joy P. Dizon, records custodian of the BOC, attesting that the original or certified true copies of documents pertinent to the criminal complaint arising from the importation of Monacat Trading, were among those lost and destroyed by the fire incident. For this reason, plaintiff claims that, in the filing of the Information before the Court, it submitted the complaint-affidavit and certified machine copies of the annexes thereof, which were allegedly retrieved by the BOC from the records of the Court of Tax Appeals (CTA) and subject of CTA Criminal Case No. 9851. Plaintiff also states that the same were also scanned and contained in the USB it submitted at the time of the filing of the Information of the above-entitled case. Plaintiff avers that the hard copy of the original and certified true copies of the above-enumerated documents had already been submitted by the prosecution in a Compliance dated Nobember 28, 2023, it made before the Court in connection with a related case, People of the Philippines vs. Noralyn T Asaria, Monacat Trading, Rolando A. Cuevas and Mermelinda C. Dela Cruz, docketed as CTA Criminal Case Nos. 0-1092 to 0-1096. Together with the four USBs, plaintiff already submitted additional copies of the photocopy of the attachments of the Complaint-Affidavit of SAl Ugay and SAl De Castro. Plaintiff, thus, moves for the Court to: (1) consider the certified machine copies of the annexes referred to in the Complaint-Affidavit, sotred in a USB and submitted to the Court, as compliance with the directive of the Court, in lieu of the originals or certified true copies, which were destroyed by the fire that broke out in the BOC; (2) set aside the dismissal of this case and reinstate the Information; and, (3) consider such certified machine Resolution dated June 3, 2025, Docket.

RESOLUTION CTA CRIM. Case No. 0-1184 copies of the annexes attached to the Complaint-Affidavit, along with the Information and other supporting documents, sufficient for the determination of probable cause and the issuance of warrants of arrest against accused Rolando A. Cuevas and Mermelinda C. DelaCruz. A perusal of the records shows that the prosecution submitted two USBs containing the scanned copies of the certified true copies, among others, of the Resolution, Referral Letter and Complaint-Affidavit of Ugay and De Castro; and the scanned copies of the Investigation Data Form, Certification from the BFP, Affidavit ofDarlyn Joy P. Dizon and the annexes appended to the said Complaint-Affidavit of Ugay and De Castro. The Court finds plaintiffs compliance sufficient. Accordingly, the Court shall grant plaintiff's Motion for Reconsideration and recall and set aside the Resolution dated December 13, 2024. The Court shall now determine the existence of probable cause to go on with the prosecution of the case. Upon perusal of the Information filed on July 10, 2024, including the attachments therein and the additional above-enumerated documents submitted, the Court finds the existence of probable cause for the issuance of Warrants of Arrest against all the accused. WHEREFORE, plaintiffs Motion for Reconsideration (of the Resolution of the Honorable Court dated 14 February 2025) is GRANTED. Accordingly, the Resolution dated February 14, 2025 is RECALLED and SET ASIDE. Let Warrants of Arrest be issued for accused Rolando A. Cuevas and Mermelinda C. Dela Cruz. The bail bond for their provisional liberty is set at One Hundred Twenty Thousand Pesos (P120,000.00) each. The Motion to Dismiss (on the ground of Inordinate Delay) filed by accused Mermelinda C. DelaCruz is NOTED WITHOUT ACTION. SO ORDERED. ~.~)-- MA. BELEN M. RINGPIS-LIBAN Presiding Justice

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