Short answer. Generally no, where Section 67 applies. Once a first-time minor offender's proceedings are dismissed and the records expunged, the law restores them to their prior status and provides they may not be treated as guilty of perjury or concealment for failing to acknowledge the case in answer to any inquiry.
What the law says
He/she shall not be held thereafter to be guilty of perjury or of concealment or misrepresentation by reason of his/her failure to acknowledge the case or recite any fact related thereto in response to any inquiry made of him for any purpose
RA 9165, Section 67 — Discharge Of First-Time Minor Offender. Read the full provision →
What Section 67 provides
The section applies to a first-time minor offender who was placed under a suspended sentence and then complied with the conditions set by the Board, including any required confinement in a Center. On the Board's favourable recommendation, the court discharges the accused and dismisses all the proceedings. It then orders all official records relating to the case expunged — apart from a confidential record retained by the DOJ — and that expungement order is itself kept confidential. Crucially, the order restores the person to the status they held before the case, as though it had not marked them.
The protection when you are asked
This is the operative promise: the person shall not be held thereafter to be guilty of perjury or of concealment or misrepresentation by reason of his/her failure to acknowledge the case or recite any fact related thereto in response to any inquiry made of him for any purpose. Having been restored, the person cannot later be prosecuted for perjury or for concealment simply because they did not disclose the case, or its facts, when asked. The words any inquiry and any purpose are broad, and they are what let a truthful negative answer stand without legal jeopardy.
Its conditions and limits
The protection is not automatic. It depends on the discharge and the expungement order having actually been entered after the offender complied with the conditions — it flows from that order, not from the mere passage of time or the youth of the case. A confidential record is still retained by the DOJ, so the case is not erased from every repository. And the provision is written for the first-time minor offender who went through the suspended-sentence route; a case that never reached discharge, or an offender outside that category, is not covered by it.
What to confirm, and next steps
Because everything rests on the order dismissing the case and expunging the records, the first thing to establish is that such an order was in fact issued. That is a matter of the court record, not assumption. Anyone unsure whether their case qualifies, or facing a specific and pointed disclosure demand — a licensing requirement, say — should have the order and their eligibility reviewed with counsel before answering. The safe course is to know that the expungement order exists, since the whole protection is built on it rather than on a hope that a youthful case simply vanished.