People Vs SB
People Vs SB
1.3 That from the time the Pakyaw Contract was entered into by
the Municipality of Lavezares and accused Romeo de Luna and up to the
PEOPLE OF THE PHILIPPINES, Petitioner, v. SANDIGANBAYAN completion of said project in 1997, private complainant Armando F. Chan
(2ND DIVISION), QUINTIN SALUDAGA Y BORDEOS, ARTHUS was the Vice Mayor of the said Municipality.
ADRIATICO Y ERUDA AND ROMEO DE LUNA, Respondents.
BRION, J.: 2.1 Whether or not Accused Quintin B. Saludaga, Arthus E. Adriatico, and
Romeo de Luna falsified the Official Receipt and the Mayor's Permit
The People of the Philippines (the People) filed this petition for certiorari1 to issued in favor of Romeo de Luna, the subject of the instant case. 6
annul and set aside the Sandiganbayan's resolution2 dated June 21, 2011,
granting Quintin B. Saludaga, Arthus E. Adriatico and Romeo De Luna's joint The prosecution alleged7 that sometime in January 1999, Adriatico issued
demurrer to evidence3 (demurrer) in Criminal Case No. 28261. Official Receipt No. 7921300-D (subject OR) dated August 27, 1997, to De
Luna representing the latter's payment (P200.00) for his mayor's permit 8 to
operate as a pakyaw contractor.9redarclaw
The Antecedents
Conniving with Adriatico and De Luna, Mayor Saludaga allegedly issued and
On March 30, 2005, the Office of the Deputy Ombudsman (Ombudsman) for
Visayas charged Mayor Quintin B. Saludaga (Mayor Saludaga) and Revenue signed the mayor's permit also sometime in January 1999.10 The mayor's
Collection Clerk Arthus E. Adriatico (Adtriatico) of Lavezares, Northern permit allowed De Luna to engage in business as a pakyaw contractor for the
period August 27, 1997 to December 30, 1997.
Samar, together with Romeo De Luna (De Luna), a private individual, for
falsification of public documents penalized under Article 171 of the Revised
The prosecution averred that Mayor Saludaga antedated the mayor's permit to
Penal Code (RPC).4redarclaw
confer on De Luna the status of a bona fide pakyaw contractor when the
The accused (respondents) pleaded not guilty.5redarclaw contracts were executed on December 9 and 17, 1997. Both Mayor Saludaga
and Adriatico purportedly knew that De Luna was not a
licensed pakyaw contractor when they issued the mayor's permit and the
During the pre-trial, the parties submitted their joint stipulations, to
subject OR.
wit:LawlibraryofCRAlaw
The prosecution further claimed that the provincial treasurer only issued the
JOINT STIPULATION OF FACTS
Official Receipt Booklet containing the subject OR to the municipality
in October 1998, and thus, it could not have been used as an official receipt
1.1 That at the time material to this case, as alleged in the information, for a transaction completed in 1997.
accused Quintin Saludaga was a public officer being then a [sic]
Municipal Mayor of the Municipality of Lavezares, Northern Samar, and Ultimately, the prosecution submitted that the respondents connived,
Arthus Adriatico was then the Revenue Collection confederated with, and mutually helped one another in falsifying the subject
Clerk of the Office of the Municipal Treasurer of the abovementioned OR and the mayor's permit to make it appear that De Luna was a bona fide
municipality. pakyaw contractor.11redarclaw
1.2 That accused Romeo de Luna entered into a Pakyaw Contract with the
Municipality of Lavezares, Northern Samar for the construction of 3 The prosecution presented the following witnesses during
Units Shallow Well Hand pump on December 9, 1997 and the trial:LawlibraryofCRAlaw
construction of 3 units Jetmatic Shallow Well Hand pump on December
17, 1997. Armando F. Chan12 (Vice Mayor) - Chan took the stand to prove that the
Certiorari
respondents conspired with each other in falsifying the mayor's permit and the The respondents further argued that even implied conspiracy was not proved
subject OR. He testified that as the presiding officer of the Sangguniang because, while conspiracy need not be established by direct evidence (for it
Bayan, he received from the Commission on Audit (COA) a copy of the COA may be inferred from the conduct of the accused before, during, and after the
Audit Report for the calendar year 1998. The report found that the commission of the crime), it still cannot be based on mere conjectures but
municipality failed to conduct public bidding for several projects, which must be established as fact.
included the pakyaw contracts entered into by De Luna and the municipality.
As a consequence, a committee was formed to investigate the alleged Since conspiracy was not shown to exist, the respondents urged the
irregularities. The committee later found that irregularities had indeed been Sandiganbayan to evaluate the prosecution's evidence vis-a-vis their individual
committed. Thus, a complaint for violation of the anti-Graft and Corrupt participation in the crime alleged to have been committed. They denied their
Practices Act (Republic Act No. 3019) was filed against Mayor Saludaga, De personal liability as follows:LawlibraryofCRAlaw
Luna, and a certain SPO2 Negro.
Mayor Saludaga's Defense17redarclaw
In this regard, Chan testified that while the subject OR was issued only in
1999, it was dated August 27, 1997, to make it appear that De Luna was a Mayor Saludaga maintained that the prosecution failed to prove he had a hand
licensed contractor and to give a semblance of legality to the award of the in the preparation and issuance of the subject OR; nor did he personally make
contracts. Finally, he claimed that Mayor Saludaga used as evidence the the entries in the mayor's permit. He insisted that all that could be inferred
falsified subject OR and the mayor's permit in the graft case filed against him. from the face of the mayor's permit was that he signed it. In the absence of
evidence that he knew the mayor's permit to be spurious, Mayor Saludaga
Bonifacio M. So13 (Provincial Treasurer) - So testified that he was the claimed that he could not be held guilty of knowingly making untruthful
custodian of the booklet which contained the subject OR and that he issued the statements in a narration of facts.
said booklet to the municipality only in October 1998.
To support this theory, Mayor Saludaga invoked the case of Magsuci v.
Jose Y. Lim14 (Municipal Treasurer) - Lim testified that the booklet containing Sandiganbayan18 which supposedly held that when the infraction consists in
the subject OR was issued to the municipality only in October 1998. He also the reliance in good faith, albeit misplaced, by a head of office on a
claimed that De Luna was not a contractor but an employee of the subordinate upon whom the primary responsibility rests, absent a clear case of
municipality hired by Mayor Saludaga. conspiracy, the Arias doctrine19 must be upheld.
Carlos G. Fornelos (COA Auditor) - Fornelos testified that he received a letter The Arias doctrine held that all heads of offices have to rely to a reasonable
from the municipal treasurer requesting a duplicate copy of the subject OR extent on their subordinates and on the good faith of those who prepare bids,
and that despite best efforts, he could not locate the same. purchase supplies, or enter into negotiations. There has to be some added
reason why the head of office should examine each of the documents he is
The prosecution then rested its case and submitted its formal offer of supposed to sign.
evidence15 which the Sandiganbayan admitted.16redarclaw
Adriatico 's Defense20redarclaw
The respondents filed a joint motion for leave to file a demurrer to evidence
on December 2, 2008. The Sandiganbayan granted the said motion; thus, on Adriatico argued that the prosecution failed to show that he signed or executed
May 15, 2006, the respondents filed the demurrer. the subject OR. He noted that even the prosecution's witness admitted that it
was the name of a certain A.L. Moncada, described in the subject OR as the
In praying for the dismissal of the criminal case for insufficiency of evidence, Collecting Officer, that appeared on the subject OR; and that neither
the respondents argued that the prosecution failed to prove conspiracy. Adriatico's nor any of his co-respondents' names or signatures appeared
"Conspiracy, the respondents asserted, cannot be presumed; it must be proved thereon.
by positive and conclusive evidence and shown to exist as clearly and
convincingly as the commission of the offense itself. Adriatico also argued that assuming he executed the subject OR, the
prosecution failed to show that he willingly and knowingly made an untruthful
Certiorari
statement in the narration of facts; that the OR was dated August 27, 1997,
and that it was received by the municipality only in 1998, do not exclude each Thus, the Sandiganbayan took the view that Adriatico did not necessarily
other. Adriatico insisted that he did not necessarily make an untruthful make an untruthful statement as to the date since it was a fact that the payment
statement of facts when he antedated the subject OR there being the truth that received was for a previous transaction.
the payment received was for a past transaction.
The Sandiganbayan also found that Adriatico acted in good faith when he
De Luna's Defense21redarclaw issued the subject OR for the payment of a past transaction in his belief that
the municipality would derive additional revenue therefrom.
De Luna argued that the prosecution failed to prove he was not a bona fide
pakyaw contractor. He alleged that the falsified documents neither affirmed Finally, the Sandiganbayan ruled that the prosecution failed to prove that De
nor contradicted his legal status as a bona fide pakyawcontractor. He reasoned Luna was not a bona fide pakyaw contractor from August 27 to December 30,
that with or without the subject OR and the mayor's permit, he was either 1997, or during the time the questioned pakyawcontracts were awarded. The
a bona fide pakyaw contractor or not. graft court gave no weight to the prosecution's evidence, i.e., the Time Book
and Payroll covering the period September 15 to September 30, 1997, which
Moreover, De Luna emphasized that he did not sign nor execute the subject purportedly proved that De Luna was a hired municipal laborer and not
OR and the mayor's permit and that any alleged falsification could not be a pakyaw contractor.
attributed to him for failure of the prosecution to prove conspiracy.
The dispositive portion of the Sandiganbayan resolution
The Sandiganbayan Ruling22 reads:LawlibraryofCRAlaw
The Sandiganbayan granted the demurrer. It held that in criminal prosecutions WHEREFORE, the Joint Demurrer to Evidence filed by the accused,
for offenses under the RPC, the prosecution must prove beyond reasonable Saludaga, Adriatico and De Luna, is hereby GRANTED. Accordingly,
doubt that the accused had criminal intent to commit the offense Criminal Case No. 28261 is hereby ordered DISMISSED.
charged.23redarclaw
The Petition
In this regard, the prosecution failed to prove some of the elements of
falsification of documents under Article 171 (4) of the RPC, namely: (1) the The People impute grave abuse of discretion amounting to lack or excess of
offender is a public officer, employee, or notary public; (2) the offender takes
jurisdiction on the part of the Sandiganbayan when it granted the demurrer.
advantage of his official position; and (3) the offender falsifies a document by
The People disagree that the prosecution failed to establish the respondents'
making untruthful statements in a narration of facts. In particular, the
guilt with moral certainty. Specifically, the People refute the Sandiganbayan's
Sandiganbayan found that the prosecution failed to prove the second and third
conclusion that the prosecution failed to prove certain elements of the
elements. The graft court resolved to grant the demurrer as falsification charged.
follows:LawlibraryofCRAlaw
With respect to the element that the offenders must have taken advantage
First, the Sandiganbayan was not persuaded by the prosecutions' evidence that
of their official position, the People emphasized Adriatico's own
Mayor Saludaga had a hand in the preparation and issuance of the subject OR.
admission24 that he antedated the subject OR upon De Luna's request, a fact
Thus, he could not have taken advantage of his position as Mayor and
that the latter confirmed.25redarclaw
knowingly made untruthful narration of facts.
Such act, according to the People, already constitutes falsification of a public
Second, the Sandiganbayan is unconvinced that the subject OR was falsified
document and thereby untruthful.
despite Adriatico's admission that he antedated it upon De Luna's request. It
held that although Adriatico prepared and issued the subject OR, he did not
The People cite the case of Relucio v. Civil Service Commission,26 which laid
make untruthful statements in a narration of facts; because the statements were down the elements of falsification of public documents, to wit: (i) the offender
not altogether false since there was some recognizable truth in these.
Certiorari
makes in a document untruthful statements in a narration of facts; (ii) the for certiorari does not include a correction of the Sandiganbayan's evaluation
offender has a legal obligation to disclose the truth of the facts narrated; (iii) of the prosecution's evidence but is confined to the issue of grave abuse of
the facts narrated by the offender are absolutely false; and (iv) the perversions discretion.
of truth in the narration of facts was made with the wrongful intent to injure a
third person. Issue
As regards the element that the offender must have falsified a document by The sole issue before the Court is whether the Sandiganbayan gravely abused
making untruthful statements in a narration of facts, the People dispute its discretion when it granted the respondents' demurrer.
the Sandiganbayan's reasoning that the narration of facts be absolutely false to
constitute falsification. Our Ruling
The People argue that the Sandiganbayan erred when it held that there can be We dismiss the petition.
no conviction of falsification of public document if the acts of the accused are
consistent with good faith.27 Good faith does not apply in this case because We stress at the outset that the People assail the Sandiganbayan's grant of
Adriatico was not confronted with a difficult question of law and he should demurrer through certiorariunder Rule 65 of the Rules of Civil Procedure. To
have known better that it was illegal to issue an antedated receipt. put our discussions in proper perspective, a review of the nature and purpose
of a petition for certiorari is in order.
Further, the People posit that Mayor Saludaga cannot invoke the Arias
doctrine, maintaining that Mayor Saludaga may be deemed a knowing Section 1 of Rule 65 reads:LawlibraryofCRAlaw
participant in the conspiracy when he affixed his signature despite the patent
irregularities thereon.28redarclaw Section 1. Petition for certiorari - When any tribunal, board or officer
exercising judicial or quasi-judicial functions has acted without or in excess of
In fine, the People insist that Mayor Saludaga and Adriatico took advantage of [its or his] jurisdiction, or with grave abuse of discretion amounting to lack
their positions in falsifying the subject OR and mayor's permit; that the or excess of its or his jurisdiction, and there is no appeal, or any plain,
falsifications were intended to evade their prosecution under the Anti-Corrupt speedy, and adequate remedy in the ordinary course of law, a person
and Practices Act; and that the respondents' acts were so concerted it may be aggrieved thereby may file a verified petition in the proper court, alleging the
inferred that Mayor Saludaga, together with his subordinate Adriatico and facts with certainty and praying that judgment be rendered annulling or
dummy De Luna, conspired to commit the crime. modifying the proceedings of such tribunal, board or officer, and granting
such incidental reliefs as law and justice may require, x x x. [Emphasis
The Respondents' Case29 supplied.]
Certiorari
Art. 171. Falsification by public officer, employee or notary or ecclesiastical
The office of demurrer and minister. — The penalty of prision mayor and a fine not to exceed 5,000 pesos
the effect of its grant shall be imposed upon any public officer, employee, or notary who, taking
advantage of his official position, shall falsify a document by committing any
Section 23, Rule 119 of the Revised Rules of Criminal Procedure of the following acts:LawlibraryofCRAlaw
provides:LawlibraryofCRAlaw
xxxx
Sec. 23. Demurrer to evidence. - After the prosecution rests its case, the court
may dismiss the case on the ground of insufficiency of evidence: (1) on its 4. Making untruthful statements in a narration of facts;
own initiative after giving the prosecution an opportunity to be heard; or (2)
on motion of the accused with prior leave of court. x x x x.
A demurrer to evidence is an objection by one of the parties in an action to the Reduced to its elements, a violation under this provision requires
effect that the evidence which his adversary produced is insufficient in point that:LawlibraryofCRAlaw
of law to make out a case or sustain the issue.32 The party filing the demurrer
challenges the sufficiency of the prosecution's evidence. The Court's task is to (1) The offender makes in a public document untruthful statements in a
ascertain if there is competent or sufficient evidence to establish a prima narration of facts;
facie case to sustain the indictment or support a verdict of guilt.33redarclaw (2) He has a legal obligation to disclose the truth of
the facts narrated by him; and
In criminal cases, the grant of a demurrer amounts to an acquittal, and the (3) The facts narrated by him are absolutely false.38
dismissal order may not be appealed as this would place the accused in double
jeopardy.34 Although the dismissal order is not subject to appeal, it may be
The prosecution must likewise prove that the public officer or employee had
reviewed through certiorari under Rule 65.35redarclaw
taken advantage of his official position in making the falsification. The
offender is considered to have taken advantage of his official position when
For the writ to issue, the trial court must be shown to have acted with grave
(1) he has the duty to make or prepare or otherwise to intervene in the
abuse of discretion amounting to lack or excess of jurisdiction such as where
preparation of a document; or (2) he has the official custody of the document
the prosecution was denied the opportunity to present its case or where the
which he falsifies.39redarclaw
trial was a sham thus rendering the assailed judgment void.36redarclaw
Moreover, in falsification of public or official documents, it is not necessary
The burden is on the petitioner to clearly demonstrate that the trial court
that there be present the idea of gain or the intent to injure a third person
blatantly abused its authority to a point so grave as to deprive it of its very
because in the falsification of a public document, what is punished is the
power to dispense justice.37redarclaw
violation of the public faith and the destruction of the truth as therein solemnly
proclaimed.40redarclaw
The People failed to overcome this burden.
Conspiracy
Falsification and Conspiracy
A conspiracy exists when two or more persons come to an agreement
In brief, the respondents allegedly committed falsification under paragraph 4,
concerning the commission of a felony and decide to commit it; it may be
Article 171 of the RPC, and that they connived, confederated with, and
alleged as a mode of committing a crime or as constitutive of the crime
mutually helped one another in committing the said crime.
itself.41 It need not be shown by direct proof of an agreement of the parties to
commit the crime42 as it can be inferred from the acts of the accused
Article 171, paragraph 4 of the RPC provides:LawlibraryofCRAlaw
which clearly manifest a concurrence of wills, a common intent or design
to commit a crime.43redarclaw
Certiorari
untruthful narration of facts in the said document.
More significant, conspiracy as a basis for conviction must rest on nothing
less than a moral certainty. While conspiracy need not be established by Second, the Sandiganbayan was not persuaded that the subject OR was in fact
direct evidence, it is, nonetheless, required to be proved by clear and falsified.
convincing evidence by showing a series of acts done by each of the accused
in concert and in pursuance of a common unlawful purpose. 44redarclaw While Adriatico admitted that he issued the subject OR and that he antedated
it to August 27, 1997, the Sandiganbayan held that such act does not constitute
Guided by the foregoing principles, we hold that the Sandiganbayan did falsification. It held that if the statements are not altogether false, there being
not gravely abuse its discretion when it granted the respondents' some colorable truth in them, the crime of falsification is deemed not to have
demurrer. been committed. Adriatico did not necessarily make an untruthful statement of
fact as to the date, there being truth that the payment received was for a past
The People's evidence vis-a-vis transaction.
the Sandiganbayan's findings
Finally, the Sandiganbayan held that the prosecution failed to prove that De
The People submit that the Sandiganbayan exercised its judicial functions in Luna was not a bona fide pakyaw contractor when the contracts were executed
arbitrary and despotic manner because it completely disregarded the in December 1997. The graft court did not give credence to the prosecution's
prosecution's evidence and ignored settled jurisprudence.45redarclaw evidence (i.e., Time Book and Payroll for the period September 15 to
September 30, 1997) that De Luna was a mere laborer employed by the
We disagree with this contention. municipality. It also dismissed the insinuations made by the prosecution's
witnesses Chan and Lim that De Luna was not a qualified contractor, holding
A scrutiny of the assailed resolution shows that the Sandiganbayan thoroughly that they were mere insinuations and nothing more.
passed upon the prosecution's testimonial and documentary pieces of
evidence. Finding them insufficient to support the charge vis-a-vis the To our mind, the foregoing disquisitions sufficiently counter the People's
elements of the crime, the graft court granted the demurrer and dismissed the claim that the Sandiganbayan completely ignored the prosecution's evidence
criminal case. and that it disregarded settled jurisprudence.
In a nutshell, the Sandiganbayan dismissed the case because the prosecution On the contrary, we find that the Sandiganbayan, by examining the
failed to prove some elements of the crime, namely: (i) that the offenders take prosecution's evidence vis-a-vis the elements of the crime, adequately laid the
advantage of their official positions and (ii) that they falsify a document by basis in resolving to grant the demurrer. We do not see how this method of
making untruthful statements in a narration of facts. arriving at a decision or resolution can be deemed a grave abuse of discretion.
Simply put, we are not convinced that the Sandiganbayan acted in a
The Sandiganbayan justified its grant of the demurrer as capricious, arbitrary, and whimsical manner when it granted the respondents'
follows:LawlibraryofCRAlaw demurrer.
First, the Sandiganbayan was not convinced that Mayor Saludaga took This is not to say that the Sandiganbayan correctly applied the law to the facts
advantage of his official position to falsify the subject OR. It held that the of the case. Our finding is limited to the issue of grave abuse of discretion; we
prosecution's evidence failed to establish that he was in any way involved in do not rule on the legal soundness of the Sandiganbayan resolution.
the execution and issuance of the subject OR.
To reiterate, certiorari shall lie only when the respondent court gravely
Although Mayor Saludaga signed the mayor's permit, the Sandiganbayan ruled abuses its discretion such as when it blatantly ignores facts or denies a
that it is the issuance of the subject OR to support the mayor's permit which is party due process. Certiorari does not correct errors of judgment.
crucial in determining his culpability for the crime charged against him. As it
was not shown that Mayor Saludaga had any involvement in its issuance, he Thus, even if the Sandiganbayan erred in weighing the sufficiency of the
could not have taken advantage of his position as Mayor and knowingly made prosecution's evidence, such error does not necessarily amount to grave abuse
Certiorari
of discretion.46It is merely an error of judgment which may no longer be hold water.
appealed because it would place the respondents in double jeopardy.
No convincing evidence was presented to show how the respondents
In the case of People v. Sandiganbayan,47 we found the Sandiganbayan to conspired to commit the crime. We find no credible proof that links or gives
have erred in applying certain provisions of the Government Auditing Code of unifying purpose to the respondents' individual acts. Without such proof, we
the Philippines when it granted the accused's demurrer to evidence. cannot conclude with moral certainty that they conspired, connived, and
Nonetheless, we held that even if the Sandiganbayan proceeded from an mutually helped one another to commit the crime. These acts, on their own
erroneous interpretation of the law, the error committed was an error of and nothing more, do not support the allegation of conspiracy.
judgment and not of jurisdiction.
As a final point, we note the People's suggestion that the Sandiganbayan, in
We found therein that the People failed to establish that the dismissal order granting the demurrer, tried to exculpate Mayor Saludaga and thereby abetted
was tainted with grave abuse of discretion. In fine, we held that the error the freeing of a corrupt public official.49 While we recognize the prosecutors'
committed by the Sandiganbayan is of such a nature that could no longer be efforts in bringing unscrupulous public officials to justice, we find these
rectified on appeal by the prosecution because it would place the accused in comments unwarranted and unfair to the Sandiganbayan. Besides, unfounded
double jeopardy. accusations such as these have no place in a pleading.
In another case, after the prosecution had presented its evidence and rested its WHEREFORE, in the light of these findings and legal premises, we find no
case, the accused filed a motion to dismiss for insufficiency of evidence. The grave abuse of discretion in the June 21, 2011 Sandiganbayan resolution
trial court granted the motion and dismissed the case. On appeal by the granting the respondents' joint demurrer to evidence in Criminal Case No.
prosecution to this Court, we were of the view that the dismissal order was 28261 and therefore, accordingly, DISMISS the petition.
erroneous and resulted in a miscarriage of justice. However, we ruled that
such error could not be corrected because double jeopardy had already set SO ORDERED.cra
in.48redarclaw
At any rate, even if we go beyond the function of certiorari and dissect the
prosecution's theory that the respondents conspired to commit the crime, we
still sustain the Sandiganbayan.
Three acts are undisputed: (1) Adriatico issued the antedated subject OR in
1999, (2) De Luna requested Adriatico to antedate the OR, and (3) Mayor
Saludaga signed in 1999 the mayor's permit which allowed De Luna to engage
as pakyaw contractor for the period August 27 -December 30, 1997.
The concurrence of will and common intent or design to commit a crime is not
clearly manifest in the present case. The charge of conspiracy simply does not
Certiorari