MANILA, Philippines?(UPDATE) A Quezon City court has acquitted actress Jennylyn Mercado?s ex-personal aide who was accused of illegally disbursing over P460,000 in checks in June to September 2008, without the actress? consent.

In a 10-page decision promulgated on Tuesday, Judge Vivencio Baclig said the prosecution evidence was not enough to prove the guilt of accused Rowena ?Mel? Pulmano.

Mercado did not attend the promulgation of judgment at the Regional Trial Court Branch 77 on Tuesday morning but her lawyer, Leilani Barceras, was present.

Pulmano attended the hearing along with her lawyer Cornelio Samaniego. It was Baclig?s last promulgation before retiring on Thursday, his 70th birthday.

Pulmano was the actress? former personal assistant and road manager, who was tasked to handle Mercado?s bank transactions and payment of bills.

Pulmano was charged with qualified theft for allegedly disbursing checks belonging to Mercado amounting to P460,272.84 apparently without the actress? knowledge.

The prosecution had alleged that Pulmano, who used to be Mercado?s authorized representative to the United Coconut Planters Bank, had forged her signatures on the checks.

But the court found that there was no clear evidence that the accused actually forged Mercado?s signature on the 19 UCPB checks from June to September 2008.

?And it has not been established that it was she alone who had the free access to Mercado?s account with the UCPB Tomas Morato Branch,? the decision read.

The court pointed out that the prosecution mainly relied on the testimony of a questioned documents expert, Childa Chavez, who pointed to differences between the signatures of Mercado and those found on the checks.

Baclig explained that courts could not rely only on expert testimonies and that forgery ?cannot be presumed but must be shown by clear, positive and convincing evidence.?

?In this case, the court made an independent examination of the questioned signatures of Mercado and her standard signatures. It is possible that Mercado?s signature in the questioned documents may be her genuine signatures,? the judge said.

He added the other prosecution witnesses, who were bank officials, were duty bound to ensure that the signature on checks were genuine and not forged.

?They have the exclusive control and expertise to initially determine the validity of the signature and authenticity of the checks of their clients which are presented to them for encashment,? the decision read.

The judge said the bank officials? testimonies did not include any declaration that they too thought that Mercado?s signatures on the checks were forged; they only testified on what happened after Pulmano showed up at the bank to encash the checks.

Baclig pointed out that Mercado herself and her talent manager, Becky Aguila, admitted that they didn?t know who signed the allegedly forged checks and that the signatures might have been those of another person, not Pulmano.

?In other words, there is no direct evidence proving the actual taking of the stolen funds with the bank. The evidence is merely circumstantial and the same is not strong to prove the existence of the crime and the culpability of the accused.?

However, Pulmano was not yet free. She is still facing other charges filed with two other branches of the Quezon City RTC, one for estafa and another for qualified theft.