SECOND DIVISION
G.R. No. 205260, July 29, 2019
C/INSP. RUBEN LIWANAG, SR. Y SALVADOR, PETITIONER, v. PEOPLE OF THE PHILIPPINES, RESPONDENT.
D E C I S I O N
LAZARO-JAVIER, J.:
1) | Decision1 dated June 27, 2011, affirming petitioner C/Insp. Ruben Liwanag's conviction for falsification of public document; and |
2) | Resolution2 dated October 21, 2011, denying petitioner's motion for reconsideration. |
That on or about June 10, 1994, in the City of Manila, Philippines, the said accused being then a police officer of the Western Police District Command, this City, and therefore, a public officer, with intent to cause damage, did then and there willfully, unlawfully and feloniously commit acts of falsification of a public document, in the following manner, to wit: the said accused having somehow obtained possession of a Temporary Operator's Permit (TOP) No. 02774452-A of the Land Transportation Office (LTO), Quezon City, an instrumentality of the Republic of the Philippines and, therefore, a public document which was originally issued to C/Insp[.] Antonio D. Salas of the said Western Police District Comman(d), this City, prepared, forged and falsified the said Temporary Operator's Permit (TOP) No. 02774452-A, by then and there filling up or caused to be filled up the blank spaces thereon, among others, by writing the date , "10 June 94"; the name of the accused's son "RUBEN RUBIO LIWANAG, JR."; the entry pertaining to the badge no. of the accused which was misdeclared from 04580 to 50480 and leaving the space blank intended for the permit/registration number which should reflect to the driver's license of said RUBEN RUBIO LIWANAG, [JR.] thereby making it appear, as it did appear, that said TOP No. 02774452-A dated June 19, 1994 was issued to the latter, when it (sic) truth and in fact as the said accused fully well knew that the said Temporary Operator's Permit (TOP) is spurious as the same was not duly authorized to issue the said TOP to RUBEN RUBIO LIWANAG, JR. neither did the said LTO nor Chief Inspector Antonio D. Salas to whom the said TOP booklet containing the said serial number was issued, participate or intervene in the preparation and execution of the said document, thereby making untruthful statements in a narration of facts which the said accused has the legal obligation to disclose the truth; that once the said document has been forged and falsified in the manner above setforth (sic), the son of the accused, said RUBEN RUBIO LIWANAG[,] JR. while driving a car, Kia Pride with Plate No. PSX 844 was involved in a vehicular accident with Nelia E. Enoc and Noel Agcopra, introduced and presented the said TOP No. 02774452-A to the PNCC guards, knowing the same to be spurious, to the damage and prejudice of the said Nelia E. Enoc and Noel Agcopra and/or public interest.
Contrary to law.
WHEREFORE, premises considered, the Court finds accused C/INSP. RUBEN LIWANAG, SR. Y SALVADOR GUILTY beyond reasonable doubt of the crime of FALSIFICATION OF PUBLIC DOCUMENT and hereby sentences him to suffer an indeterminate sentence of FOUR (4) YEARS, TWO (2) MONTHS AND ONE (1) DAY TO SIX (6) YEARS.
SO ORDERED.13
In addition, petitioners argue that damage to the government should have been proven considering that this was alleged in the Information. We do not agree. In falsification of public or official documents, it is not necessary that there be present the idea of gain or the intent to injure a third person because in the falsification of a public document, what is punished is the violation of the public faith and the destruction of the truth as therein solemnly proclaimed.
The law is clear that wrongful intent on the part of the accused to injure a third person is not an essential element of the crime of falsification of public document. It is jurisprudentially settled that in the falsification of public or official documents, whether by public officers or private persons, it is not necessary that there be present the idea of gain or the intent to injure a third person for the reason that, in contradistinction to private documents, the principal thing punished is the violation of the public faith and the destruction of truth as therein solemnly proclaimed. In falsification of public documents, therefore, the controlling consideration is the public character of a document; and the existence of any prejudice caused to third persons or, at least, the intent to cause such damage becomes immaterial.
Finally, the penalty imposed by the RTC, as affirmed by the CA, is proper. Art. 171 of the RPC provides for a single divisible penalty of prision mayor to public officers or employees who, taking advantage of their official positions, shall cause it to appear that persons have participated in any act or proceeding when they did not in fact participate. And where neither aggravating nor mitigating circumstance attended the execution of the offense, as here, the imposable penalty is, according to Art. 64 of the RPC, that of the medium period provided. The medium period for prision mayor is from eight (8) years and one (1) day to ten (10) years.
Applying the Indeterminate Sentence Law, the penalty imposable would be that of a degree lower than the medium period of prision mayor as minimum, and the maximum is any period included in the medium period of prision mayor. The degree lower than the medium period of prision mayor is the medium period of prision correccional which ranges from two (2) years, four (4) months, and one (1) day to four (4) years and two (2) months.
Endnotes:
1 Penned by Associate Justice Danton Q. Bueser with the concurrence of Associate Justices Hakim S. Abdulwahid and Ricardo R. Rosario, rollo, pp. 40-55.
2Rollo, pp. 37-38.
3Id. at 41-42.
4Id. at 42.
5Id. at 42-43.
6Id. at 43.
7Id. at 41-42.
8Id. at 43.
9Id. at 43-44.
10Id.at 44.
11Id. at 45.
12Id. at 45-46.
13Id.at 40-41.
14Id. at 48-49.
15Id.at 49.
16Id. at 51.
17Id. at 14-17.
18Id.at 75-91.
19 Article 171. Falsification by public officer, employee or notary or ecclesiastic minister. - The penalty of prision mayor and a fine not to exceed P5,000 pesos shall be imposed upon any public officer, employee, or notary who, taking advantage of his official position, 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 a 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.
The same penalty shall be imposed upon any ecclesiastical minister who shall commit any of the offenses enumerated in the preceding paragraphs of this article, with respect to any record or document of such character that its falsification may affect the civil status of persons.
20Regidor, Jr. v. People, 598 Phil. 714, 732 (2009).
21Id.
22Rollo, pp. 46-47.
23Galeos v. People, 657 Phil. 500, 520 (2011).
24 G.R. No. 221857, August 16, 2017, 837 SCRA 306, 328-329.
25 See Espino v. Amora, 571 Phil. 210, 214 (2008).
26 596 Phil. 1, 13-14 (2009).