chess players meet Kafka?

I find this a really bewildering article. Can any lawyers shed some light on this?
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Daily Star, Dumaguete City, Philippines Monday, December 15, 2008
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Chess teacher cleared of crime by DOJ after serving sentence
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BY ALEX PAL
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The Department of Justice has ordered the Dumaguete City Prosecutor’s Office to withdraw the libel charges against a defendant for lack of probable cause -- three years after he was convicted for the crime.
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“Thank you, Lord! The Lord is really good! Things are falling into place,” Florendo Zamora, a chess teacher and organizer of chess tournaments here, declared upon receiving the Department of Justice Resolution dated Nov. 19, 2008.
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However, the DOJ Resolution signed by Justice Undersecretary Ernesto Pineda came too little, too late. Zamora had, in fact, served his sentence.
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“This is what you call a legal comedy. On one hand, the DOJ resolution would seem to render the trial void from the very beginning but on the other hand, there is the principle of estoppel,” Saleto Erames, Zamora’s counsel for most of the trial, said.
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Estoppel is the principle that precludes a person from asserting something contrary to what is implied by a previous action or statement of that person or by a previous pertinent judicial determination. [ huh? rjo ]
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Zamora had been sentenced to a prison term of four months by RTC Branch 35 Judge Victor Patrimonio on Dec. 2, 2005, and slapped with a fine of P75,000 in moral damages for besmirching the reputation of chess National Master Rosendo Bandal, Jr., presiding judge of RTC Branch 34 here.
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Bandal filed six counts of libel against Zamora and fellow chessplayer Alex Bangay in 2002 but only one case prospered, with Bangay cleared of all the charges.
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Bandal former president of the chess team Negros Club 64 where Zamora and Bangay are also members, had left the club over some differences and formed his own Chess Master’s Club in 2002.
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In May 2002, Bandal’s club hosted the Governor’s Cup Open Chess Team Tournament and Bandal placed a poster of the tournament in the Negros Club 64’s headquarters.
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Zamora, the court records said, removed the poster and replaced it with a hand-written notice which, when translated into English, said, “Hey! Practice being civilized. Please ask permission before posting.”
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Bandal said the handwritten notice conveyed the impression that he is uncivilized, ill-mannered or impolite.
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Zamora, assisted by pro-bono counsel Erames, entered a not-guilty plea on February 2, 2004. But Erames said he was dismayed as the trial continued because “Zamora told me he wanted to change his plea to ‘guilty.’”
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“I objected but he insisted. He was obviously intimidated. So, I withdrew my appearance and another lawyer assisted him. Now, I can only say: ‘I told you so,’” Erames said.
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But for Bandal, the DOJ resolution clearing Zamora did not mean a thing. “The ruling of DOJ does not divest the courts of jurisdiction. The court may still decide to proceed with the case if the DOJ makes a similar resolution while the case is pending,” he said in a telephone interview.
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“It has no legal significance insofar as his conviction is concerned. After conviction, Zamora was detained until he was able to process his application for probation. Zamora said his 11-day detention allowed him to teach his sport to inmates at the Dumaguete City Jail. "I was released just before we were about to organize an inter-cell chess tournament," he said.
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Bandal said the decision of the DOJ is erroneous because the it was only to determine probable cause whereas the court had already convicted him beyond reasonable doubt.
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"I could have filed a Motion for Reconsideration with the DOJ to point out the glaring errors but decided against it because my friendship with Zamora had been restored," Bandal said.
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“The DOJ may have decided to move for the dropping of the complaint because it took more than five years to resolve a simple and obvious matter so they will not be embarrassed if the respondents claim that their constitutional right for a speedy trial has been violated,” Bandal said.*AP