FALSIFICATION, Articles 171 and 172, Revised Penal Code

"xxx.

Applying the foregoing disquisition to the present petition, the reasons of the Assistant City Prosecutor in dismissing the criminal complaints for falsification and mutilation, as affirmed by the DOJ, is determinative of whether or not he committed grave abuse of discretion amounting to lack or excess of jurisdiction.

In ruling the way he did – that no probable cause for falsification and mutilation exists - the Assistant City Prosecutor deliberated on the factual and legal milieu of the case. He found that there was no sufficient evidence to establish a prima facie case for the crimes complained of as defined and punished under Articles 172, paragraph 2, and 262 of the Revised Penal Code in relation to Republic Act No. 7610, respectively. Concerning the crime of falsification of a private document, the Assistant City Prosecutor reasoned that the circumstances attendant to the case did not amount to the crime complained of, that is, the lack of consent by Larry Aguirre before he was vasectomized; or the fact that the latter was not consulted. The lack of the two preceding attendant facts do not in any way amount to falsification, absent the contention that it was made to appear in the assailed report that said consent was obtained. That would have been an untruthful statement. Neither does the fact that the Psychiatric Report state that Lourdes Aguirre has Bipolar Mood Disorder by the same token amount to falsification because said report does not put forward that such finding arose after an examination of the concerned patient. Apropos the charge of mutilation, he reasoned that though the vasectomy rendered Larry unable to procreate, it was not the permanent damage contemplated under the pertinent provision of the penal code.

We agree. Grave abuse of discretion amounting to lack or excess of jurisdiction on the part of the DOJ and the Assistant City Prosecutor was not shown in the present case.

In the present petition, respondents Pedro Aguirre, Olondriz, Dr. Agatep and Dr. Pascual are charged with violating Articles 172 and 262 of the Revised Penal Code, in relation to Republic Act No. 7610. Article 172, paragraph 2 of the Revised Penal Code, defines the crime of falsification of a private document, viz –

Art. 172. Falsification by private individuals and use of falsified documents. – The penalty of prision correccional in its medium and maximum periods and a fine of not more than 5,000 pesos shall be imposed upon:

x x x x

2. Any person who, to the damage of a third party, or with the intent to cause such damage, shall in any private document commit any of the acts of falsification enumerated in the next preceding article.

Petitioner Gloria Aguirre charges respondents with falsification of a private document for conspiring with one another in keeping Larry "in the dark about the foregoing (vasectomy) as the same was concealed from him by the respondents x x x,"53 as well as for falsely concluding and diagnosing Lourdes Aguirre to be suffering from Bipolar Mood Disorder.

A scrutiny, however, of Article 171 of the Revised Penal Code which defines the acts constitutive of falsification, that is –

Art. 171. x x x shall falsify a document by committing any of the following acts:

1. Counterfeiting or imitating any handwriting, signature, or rubric;

2. Causing it to appear that persons have participated in any act or proceeding when they did not in fact so participate;

3. Attributing to persons who have participated in an act or proceeding statements other than those in fact made by them;

4. Making untruthful statements in a narration of facts;

5. Altering true dates;

6. Making any alteration or intercalation in a genuine document which changes its meaning;

7. Issuing in an authenticated form a document purporting to be a copy of an original document when no such original exists, or including in such copy a statement contrary to, or different from, that of the genuine original; or

8. Intercalating any instrument or note relative to the issuance thereof in a protocol, registry, or official book.

vis-à-vis the much criticized Psychiatric Report, shows that the acts complained of do not in any manner, by whatever stretch of the imagination, fall under any of the eight (8) enumerated acts constituting the offense of falsification.

In order to properly address the issue presented by petitioner Gloria Aguirre, it is necessary that we discuss the elements of the crime of falsification of private document under the Revised Penal Code, a crime which all the respondents have been accused of perpetrating. The elements of said crime under paragraph 2 of Article 172 of our penal code are as follows: 1) that the offender committed any acts of falsification, except those in par. 7, enumerated in Article 171; 2) that the falsification was committed in any private document; and 3) that the falsification caused damage to a third party or at least the falsification was committed with intent to cause such damage. Under Article 171, paragraph 2, a person may commit falsification of a private document by causing it to appear in a document that a person or persons participated in an act or proceeding, when such person or persons did not in fact so participate in the act or proceeding. On the other hand, falsification under par. 3 of the same article is perpetrated by a person or persons who, participating in an act or proceeding, made statements in that act or proceeding and the offender, in making a document, attributed to such person or persons statements other than those in fact made by such person or persons. And the crime defined under paragraph 4 thereof is committed when 1) the offender makes in a document statements in a narration of facts; 2) he has a legal obligation to disclose the truth of the facts narrated by him; 3) the facts narrated by the offender are absolutely false; and 4) the perversion of truth in the narration of facts was made with the wrongful intent of injuring a third person.

Applying the above-stated elements of the crime to the case at bar, in order that respondent Dr. Pascual, and the rest acting in conspiracy with her, to have committed the crime of falsification under par. 3 and 4 of Article 171 of the Revised Penal Code, it is essential that that there be prima facie evidence to show that she had caused it to appear that Larry gave his consent to be vasectomized or at the very least, that the proposed medical procedure was explained to Larry. But in the assailed report, no such thing was done. Lest it be forgotten, the reason for having Larry psychiatrically evaluated was precisely to ascertain whether or not he can validly consent with impunity to the proposed vasectomy, and not to obtain his consent to it or to oblige respondent Dr. Pascual to explain to him what the import of the medical procedure was. Further, that Larry's consent to be vasectomized was not obtained by the psychiatrist was of no moment, because nowhere is it stated in said report that such assent was obtained. At any rate, petitioner Gloria Aguirre contradicts her very own allegations when she persists in the contention that Larry has the mental age of a child; hence, he was legally incapable of validly consenting to the procedure.

In the matter of the supposed incorrect diagnosis of Lourdes Aguirre, with regard to paragraph 2 of Article 171 of the Revised Penal Code, we quote with approval the succinct statements of the Assistant City Prosecutor:

[T]he fact that Dra. Pascual cited finding, which is not of her own personal knowledge in her report does not mean that she committed falsification in the process. Her sources may be wrong and may affect the veracity of her report, but for as long as she has not alleged therein that she personally diagnosed Lourdes Aguirre, which allegation would not then be true, she cannot be charged of falsification. Therefore, it goes without saying that if the author of the report is not guilty, then with more reason the other respondents are not liable.54

Xxx."


G.R. No. 170723, March 3, 2008

GLORIA PILAR S. AGUIRRE, petitioner,
vs.
SECRETARY OF THE DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE, MICHELINA S. AGUIRRE-OLONDRIZ, PEDRO B. AGUIRRE, DR. JUVIDO AGATEP and DR. MARISSA B. PASCUAL, respondents.

https://lawphil.net/judjuris/juri2008/mar2008/gr_170723_2008.html