MONTEVERDE V. PEOPLE – 387 SCRA 196 (2002) (Digest)

No Complex Crimeof Falsification with Estafa

24. MONTEVERDE V. PEOPLE – 387 SCRA 196 (2002)

Facts:

                “Sometime in August 1991, Antonio R. Araza, Jose Salvatierra, Santos L. Lopez, and Narciso Cruz, residents of Brgy. 124, charged Petitioner and Bella Evangelista, then Barangay Treasurer, with Malversation of the following funds: 1.) P82,500.00 from [the] Barangay General Fund; 2.) P44,800.00 from the PAGCOR; and 3.) P600.00 allowance of KagawadLitoGalinda for the period July 16, to December 1990.

                Appellant was purportedly charged with the complex crime of estafa through falsification of a commercial document. However, even if the SBN itself doubted whether the Information had properly charged a complex crime, it was, as quoted earlier, “constrained to go along with the supposition that what has been charged is that of a complex crime, otherwise the logical consequence is that the accused has been indicted with two crimes -- that of Estafa and that of Falsification of Commercial Document which is not beneficial to her.”

Issue: WON there is complex crime of Falsification with Estafa.

Held: No

Ratio:

                SC reject the argument of petitioner that since she was acquitted of estafa, she could no longer be convicted of falsification of a commercial document. Having, in effect, been charged with two distinct crimes, acquittal in one will not necessarily lead to acquittal in the other. Each crime will be evaluated based on its own merits, and conviction will depend on the proof of the elements of each particular offense.

                When a complex crime under Article 48 of the Revised Penal Code is charged, it is axiomatic that the prosecution must allege in the information and prove during the trial all the elements of all the offenses constituting the complex crime.