PERJURY
ELEMENTS;
Perjury is the willful and corrupt assertion of a falsehood under oath or affirmation administered by authority of law on a material matter. Article 183 of the Revised Penal Code states the definition of and penalty for perjury, thus:
Art. 183. False testimony in other cases and perjury in solemn affirmation. The penalty of arresto mayor in its maximum period to prision correccional in its minimum period shall be imposed upon any person who, knowingly make untruthful statements and not being included in the provisions of the next preceding articles, shall testify under oath or make an affidavit, upon any material matter before a competent person authorized to administer an oath in cases in which the law so requires.
Any person who, in case of a solemn affirmation made in lieu of an oath, shall commit any of the falsehoods mentioned made in this and the three preceding articles of this section shall suffer the respective penalties provided therein.
As can be gleaned from the foregoing, the elements of perjury are as follows:
(a) That the accused made a statement under oath or executed an affidavit upon a material matter.
(b) That the statement or affidavit was made before a competent officer, authorized to receive and administer oath.
(c) That in the statement or affidavit, the accused made a willful and deliberate assertion of a falsehood.
(d) That the sworn statement or affidavit containing the falsity is required by law or made for a legal purpose.
The third element of perjury requires that the accused had willfully and deliberately asserted a falsehood. A mere assertion of a false objective fact is not sufficient. The assertion must be deliberate and willful.
Perjury being a felony by dolo, there must be malice on the part of the accused. Willfully means intentionally, with evil intent and legal malice, with consciousness that the alleged perjurious statement is false with the intent that it should be received as a statement of what was true in fact. It is equivalent to “knowingly.” “Deliberately” implies “meditated” as distinguished from “inadvertent acts.” It must appear that the accused knows his statement to be false or is consciously ignorant of its truth.
(Monfort III, et.al. vs. Salvatierra, G.R. No. 168301, March 5, 2007)
