12. Aristotel Valenzuela vs.

People

Facts:

Aristotel Valenzuela and Jovy Calderon were charged with the crime of theft. Valenzuela and Calderon
were seen outside the Super Sale Club inside the SM Complex along North Edsa by Lorenzo Lago, SM
security guard. Valenzuela was hauling a push cart with cases of Tide in an open parking space where
Calderon was waiting. Valenzuela went inside the Supermarket again and came back with more cases of
detergent. Thereafter, Valenzuela left the parking lot and haled a taxi. He boarded the cab and told the
driver to go to the area where Calderon was waiting. Calderon loaded the cases of Tide and boarded the
taxi. Lago saw all of this and proceeded to stop the taxi. When Lago asked for a receipt of the
merchandise, the two accused reacted by fleeing on foot. Valenzuela and Calderon were apprehended
at the scene and were both convicted by the trial court of consummated theft. It was only Valenzuela
who filed an appeal with the CA, Petitioner contends that he should only be convicted of frustrated theft
since at the time he was apprehended, he was never placed in a position to freely dispose of the articles
stolen. The court of Appeals rejected this contention. Hence this petition for review.

Issue: Whether or not petitioner Valenzuela is guilty of frustrated theft.

Held:

Petition dismissed. There is only one operative act of execution by the actor involve in theft- the taking
of personal property of another. The Supreme Court held that unlawful taking is deemed complete from
the moment the offender gains possession of the thing even if he has no opportunity to dispose of the
same. Under the statutory definition of theft, free disposal of the stolen items is not a constitutive
element of theft. It is immaterial to the product of the felony that the offender, once having committed
all the acts of execution for theft is able or unable to freely disposed of the property stolen since the
deprivation from the owner alone has already ensued from such acts of execution.