Perjury and good faith

Is good faith a defense against perjury?

Back in 2019, the island province of Camiguin implemented a QR code registration system as a tool for contract tracing in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The system was relaunched in March 2023 under Camiguin Smart Tourism ordinance which required visitors to register using a QR code.

Under the ordinance, visitors who enter the province need to secure a QR code which would then require them to provide their full name, birthdate, gender, civil status, nationality, address, mobile number, email address and a photo. The same QR code is scanned upon departure.

The ordinance states that the system is designed to collect, record and organize all arrivals and departures to and from the province in real time to determine visitor demographics and trends for tourism development and marketing purposes and analyze carrying capacity and environmental impact.

But a group led by businessman Paul Rodriquez filed a petition for certiorari and prohibition in court assailing the ordinance, claiming that the system is violative of the right to privacy and of free movement, thus the need to have it urgently nullified.

Rodriguez also alleged that the ordinance was not published in any newspaper of either general or local circulation and was not posted in prominent places for a minimum of three consecutive weeks, a requirement under the Local Government Code to make it make it effective.

A preliminary injunction was issued in the ongoing case challenging the validity of the ordinance, preventing its implementation.

Last January, Camiguin Gov. Xavier Jesus Romualdo explained that because of the injunction, the province was prevented from using its Smart Travel or QR Code system starting last year, thereby limiting the precision of tourism data compared with previous years.

He noted that without the system, the province struggled in distinguishing residents from visitors and in determining nationalities, especially as more than 654,000 people  pass through their ports and airport last year.

Despite this, Romualdo revealed that tourist arrivals in Camiguin surged by 37.86 percent in 2025, reaching 397,818 visitors compared to 288,558 in 2024. Of last year’s visitors, 376,322 were domestic tourists while 21,496 were foreign, representing a 39.3 percent increase in local tourists and a 15.7 percent rise in foreign arrivals.

Because of the suspension in the QR system implementation, the provincial tourism department had to instead use whatever data is available to reflect tourism trends on the island. Romualdo said that while these figures may lack the precision of the Smart Travel system, they still reflect sustained mobility and greater interest in Camiguin as a destination.

He added that the province is now on track to meet its target of at least 30 percent annual growth in tourist arrivals from 2025 to 2028, a pace that would bring Camiguin back to its pre-pandemic level of around 800,000 visitors by 2028.

Last year, Romualdo, together with vice-governor Rodin Romualdo and several members of the Sangguniang Panlalawigan filed a perjury complaint against Rodriguez claiming that contrary to what the latter swore to before a notary public, the ordinance had, in fact, been published on three separate occasions in a Cagayan de Oro City-based tabloid.

The provincial prosecutor found probable cause that the crime of perjury was committed but the Department of Justice initially reversed the finding.

However, the DOJ later granted a a petition for review filed by Romualdo and seven members of the Sanggunian and recommended the filing of information against Rodriguez for perjury.

Justice Secretary Fredderick Vida, in a resolution dated March 19, said that Rodriguez consciously ignored the truth when he asserted that the ordinance was not at all published in any newspaper or that it was posted in prominent places.

The resolution noted that when Rodriguez swore in the verification of the petition for certiorari before a notary public authorized to administer oaths, he willfully and deliberately made an assertion of falsehood to support his claims in the petition, and he consciously ignored the truth when he asserted that the ordinance was not at all published in any newspaper or posted in prominent places.

It added that despite having no knowledge of the truthfulness or untruthfulness of such fact, he still willfully and deliberately alleged in the civil action its non-publication and non-posting in order to bolster his claim that the Camiguin Smart Tourism Ordinance is invalid, unenforceable and ineffectual.

Rodriguez, in his defense, said that he merely assumed non-publication because the ordinance text did not say otherwise but the DOJ emphasized that he had every reasonable opportunity to verify the veracity of his claim in his petition but he chose not to do so.

The DOJ resolution explained that perjury is committed when one verified the pleading on the basis of speculation, adding that mere belief that the ordinance was not published and posted due to his reliance on the ordinance itself does not excuse him from criminal liability.

Whether the DOJ’s contention will hold up in court remains to be seen however.

Rodriquez’ camp claims that good faith is a defense available in perjury since an indispensable element of perjury is willful and deliberate assertion of a falsehood on a material matter which is lacking in his case. They said that the Supreme Court has consistently ruled that for a conviction of perjury, the accused must know that his statement is false or that he consciously ignored the truth which is not applicable in the case of Rodriguez.

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