THE Department of Justice (DOJ) has reinstated a perjury case against Camiguin businessman Paul Rodriguez, ruling he "consciously ignored the truth" when challenging the province’s Smart Tourism Ordinance.
In a five-page resolution, the DOJ granted a petition for review filed by Camiguin Gov. Xavier Jesus Romualdo and seven members of the Sangguniang Panlalawigan. The decision orders the provincial prosecutor to withdraw a Jan. 6 resolution that had previously dismissed the complaint against the businessman.
The legal dispute centers on Rodriguez's sworn statement, in which he claimed the Smart Tourism Ordinance "was not at all published in any newspaper of either general or local circulation."
The DOJ found merit in the motion for reconsideration filed by Romualdo in March 2025, noting that the case meets the elements of perjury. The department described Rodriguez's assertion as a deliberate falsehood intended to bolster his petition to invalidate the ordinance through an injunction.
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Furthermore, the DOJ declared that the issue of conflicting copies of the Mindanao Daily News—which was used as a basis for the earlier dismissal—is immaterial. The department stressed that Rodriguez had ample opportunity to verify the accuracy of his claims before filing his petition for certiorari, but ultimately failed to do so.
Following these findings, the DOJ recommended that the Camiguin provincial prosecutor officially reinstate the perjury charge against Rodriguez under Article 183 of the Revised Penal Code.
