"x x x.
I
Failure of information to allege falsification
did not violate petitioner’s right to be informed
of thenatureand cause of the accusation
Petitioner contends that the RTC grossly violated her Constitutional right to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation when: (a) it held that the information did not have to allege her falsification of the duplicate receipts, and (b) when it convicted her of estafa under Article 315, paragraph 1(b) of the Revised Penal Codeby relying on the evidence on falsification.
The contentionof petitioner cannot be sustained.
The Bill of Rights guaranteessome rightsto every person accused of a crime, among them the right to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation, viz:
Section 14. (1) No person shall be held to answer for a criminal offense without due process of law.
(2) In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall be presumed innocent until the contrary is proved, and shall enjoy the right to be heard by himself and counsel, to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation against him, to have a speedy, impartial, and public trial, to meet the witnesses face to face, and to have compulsory process to secure the attendance of witnesses and the production of evidence in his behalf. However, after arraignment, trial may proceed notwithstanding the absence of the accused provided that he has been duly notified and his failure to appear is unjustifiable.
Rule 110 of the Revised Rules of Court, the rule then in effect when the information was filed in the RTC, contained the following provisions on the proper manner of alleging the nature and cause of the accusation in the information, to wit:
Section 8.Designation of the offense.– Whenever possible, a complaint or information should state the designation given to the offense by the statute, besides the statement of the acts or omissions constituting the same, and if there is no such designation, reference should be made to the section or subsection of the statute punishing it. (7)
Section 9.Cause of accusation. – The acts or omissions complained of as constituting the offense must be stated in ordinary and concise language without repetition, not necessarily in the terms of the statute defining the offense, but in such form as is sufficient to enable a person of common understanding to know what offense is intended to be charged, and enable the court to pronounce proper judgment. (8)
The importance of the proper manner of alleging the nature and cause of the accusation in the informationshould never be taken for granted by the State. An accused cannot be convicted of an offense that is not clearly charged in the complaint or information. To convict him of an offense other than that charged in the complaint or information would be violative of the Constitutional right to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation.[11] Indeed, the accused cannot be convicted of a crime, even if duly proven, unless the crime is alleged or necessarily included in the information filed against him.
The crime of estafacharged against petitioner was defined and penalized by Article 315, paragraph 1 (b), Revised Penal Code, viz:
Article 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 12,000 pesos but does not exceed 22,000 pesos, 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 10,000 pesos; 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 under the provisions of this Code, the penalty shall be termed prision mayor or reclusion temporal, as the case may be.
2nd. The penalty of prision correccional in its minimum and medium periods, if the amount of the fraud is over 6,000 pesos but does not exceed 12,000 pesos;
3rd. The penalty of arresto mayor in its maximum period to prision correccional in its minimum period if such amount is over 200 pesos but does not exceed 6,000 pesos; and
4th. By arresto mayor in its maximum period, if such amount does not exceed 200 pesos, provided that in the four cases mentioned, the fraud be committed by any of the following means:
xxx
1. With unfaithfulness or abuse of confidence, namely:
xxx
(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.
xxx
The elements of the offense charged were as follows:
(a) That the offender received money, goods or other personal property 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;
(b) That the offender misappropriated or converted such money, goods or other personal property, or denied his part in its receipt;
(c) That the misappropriation or conversion or denial was to the prejudice of another; and
(d) That the offended party made a demand on the offender for the delivery or return of such money, goods or other personal property.[12]
According to the theory and proof of the Prosecution, petitioner misappropriated or converted the sums paid by her customers, and later falsified the duplicates of the receipts before turning such duplicates to her employer to show that the customers had paid less than the amounts actually reflected on the original receipts. Obviously, she committed the falsification in order to conceal her misappropriation or conversion. Considering that the falsificationwas not an offense separate and distinct from the estafacharged against her, the Prosecution could legitimately prove her acts of falsification as its means of establishing her misappropriation or conversion as an essential ingredient of the crime duly alleged in the information. In that manner, her right to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation against her was not infringed or denied to her.
We consider it inevitable to conclude that the information herein completely pleaded the estafa defined and penalized under Article 315, paragraph 1 (b), Revised Penal Codewithin the context of the substantive lawand the rules. Verily, there was no necessity for the information to allege the acts of falsification by petitioner because falsification was not an element of the estafacharged.
Not surprisingly,the RTC correctly dealt in its decision with petitioner’s concern thuswise:
In her Memorandum, it is the contention of [the] accused that [the] prosecution’s evidence utterly fails to prove the crime charged. According to the defense, the essence of Karen Guivencan’s testimony is that the accused falsified the receipts issued to the customers served by her by changing or altering the amounts in the duplicates of the receipts and therefore, her testimony is immaterial and irrelevant as the charge is misappropriation under Art. 315, paragraph (1b) of the Revised Penal Code and there is no allegation whatsoever of any falsification or alteration of amounts in the [i]nformation under which the accused was arraigned and pleaded NOT GUILTY. Accused, thus, maintains that the testimony of Karen Guivencan should therefore not be considered at all as it tended to prove an offense not charged or included in the [i]nformation and would violate [the] accused’s constitutional and statutory right to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation against her. The Court is not in accord with such posture of the accused.
It would seem that the accused is of the idea that because the crime charged in the [i]nformation is merely [e]stafa and not [e]stafa [t]hru [f]alsification of documents, the prosecution could not prove falsification. Such argumentation is not correct. Since the information charges accused only of misappropriation pursuant to Art. 315, par. (1b) of the Revised [P]enal Code, the Court holds that there is no necessity of alleging the falsification in the Information as it is not an element of the crime charged.
Distinction should be made as to when the crimes of Estafa and Falsification will constitute as one complex crime and when they are considered as two separate offenses. The complex crime of Estafa Through Falsification of Documents is committed when one has to falsify certain documents to be able to obtain money or goods from another person. In other words, the falsification is a necessary means of committing estafa. However, if the falsification is committed to conceal the misappropriation, two separate offenses of estafa and falsification are committed. In the instant case, when accused collected payments from the customers, said collection which was in her possession was at her disposal. The falsified or erroneous entries which she made on the duplicate copies of the receipts were contrived to conceal some amount of her collection which she did not remit to the companyxxx.[13]
x x x."
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