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Estafa - Element
Estafa - Element
paragraph 1(b) of the RPC, as amended by Republic Act No. 10951,[26N ACT ADJUSTING THE AMOUNT OR
THE VALUE OF PROPERTY AND DAMAGE ON WHICH A PENALTY IS BASED AND THE FINES IMPOSED UNDER THE REVISED PENAL CODE,
AMENDING FOR THE PURPOSE ACT NO. 3815, OTHERWISE KNOWN AS THE "REVISED PENAL CODE", AS AMENDED. Approved August 29, 2017 ]
.
which provides:
Section 85. Article 315 of the same Act, as amended by Republic Act No. 4885, Presidential
Decree No. 1689, and Presidential Decree No. 818, is hereby further amended to read as follows:
ART. 315. Swindling (estafa). – Any person who shall defraud another by any of the means
mentioned hereinbelow shall be punished by:
1st. The penalty of prision correccional in its maximum period to prision mayor in its minimum
period, if the amount of the fraud is over Two million four hundred thousand pesos (P2,400,000)
but does not exceed Four million four hundred thousand pesos (P4,400,000), and if such amount
exceeds the latter sum, the penalty provided in this paragraph shall be imposed in its maximum
period, adding one year for each additional Two million pesos (P2,000,000); but the total penalty
which may be imposed shall not exceed twenty years. In such cases, and in connection with the
accessory penalties which may be imposed and for the purpose of the other provisions of this
Code, the penalty shall be termed prision mayor or reclusion temporal, as the case may be.
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(b) By misappropriating or converting, to the prejudice of another, money, goods or any other
personal property received by the offender in trust, or on commission, or for administration, or
under any other obligation involving the duty to make delivery of or to return the same, even
though such obligation be totally or partially guaranteed by a bond; or by denying having
received such money, goods, or other property[.]
The elements of estafa through misappropriation under Article 315, paragraph 1(b) are: (a) the
offender's receipt of money, goods, or other personal property in trust, or on commission, or for
administration, or under any other obligation involving the duty to deliver, or to return, the same;
(b) misappropriation or conversion by the offender of the money or property received, or denial
of receipt of the money or property; (c) the misappropriation, conversion or denial is to the
prejudice of another; and (d) demand by the offended party that the offender return the money or
property received.[27Serona v. Court of Appeals, 440 Phil. 508, 517 (2002)]
In Tria v. People,[34 743 Phil. 441 (2014)] We defined the second element of conversion or
misappropriation as follows:
The words "convert" and "misappropriate"; connote the act of using or disposing of another's
property as if it were one's own, or of devoting it to a purpose or use different from that agreed
upon. To misappropriate for one's own use includes not only conversion to one's personal
advantage, but also every attempt to dispose of the property of another without right. In proving
the element of conversion or misappropriation, a legal presumption of misappropriation arises
when the accused fails to deliver the proceeds of the sale or to return the items to be sold and
fails to give an account of their whereabouts.[35] Id. at 452]