People v.

Romualdez and Mabunay

Contention of the State:

Estela Romualdez altered the grades of Luis Mabunay in two of his bar examination booklets in oreder for
him to pass the Bar examination. Estela Romualdez and Luis Mabunay are charged with the crime of falsification of public
and official documents.

Romualdez was the secretary of SC Justice Norberto Romualdez(then the head of Bar examination
Committee) by reason of said duty, had under her care the compositions and documents for the Bar examinations of August
and September 1926.

Romualdez, together with Mabunay, went through the archives of the Supreme Court, took the compositions of Mabunay
and erased his grade of 58% in Remedial Law and 63% in Civil Law (and replaced them with 64% and 74%) respectively.
The resulting general average of Mabunay became 75% , (originally 72.8%) thus enabling him to pass the bar exam.

Contention of the Accussed:

Argued that she had the authority to revise the composition already reviewed by the other correctors and to
change the grades already given, in her capacity as the secretary of the head of Bar Committee, as one of the correctors, and
also as the supervisor of the other correctors. In addition, she claimed that she corrected the said composition without
knowing the identity of the owner,and that she had never met Luis Mabunay prior to the trail of the case.

Ruling:

In view of the foregoing considerations, the court finds that the allegations of the information are
sufficiently supported by the evidence and that the accused, Estela Romualdez and Luis Mabunay are guilty beyond
a reasonable doubt; the former as principal and the latter as accomplice, of the crime of falsification of official
documents with which they are charged

In the course of that investigation it was discovered that the grades of candidate Luis Mabunay, identified with number 898
in roll Exhibit C-6 and in the list Exhibit C-1, which had been prepared simultaneously, did not agree, because, while roll
Exhibit C-6 shows that the grade in Civil Law of candidate No. 898 is 63, the list Exhibit C-1 shows that the grade of the
same candidate is 73; and while roll Exhibit C-6 shows that the grade of candidate No. 898 was 58 (in Remedial Law), his
grade in the list Exhibit C-1 is 64 (in the same subject), a difference also being noted between the general average of
candidate No. 898 in Exhibit C-6, which is 72.8%, and his general average on Exhibit C-1, which is 75%

The accused Estela Romualdez having admitted that she was the author of such alterations, the only logical inference from
her admission and the facts above set out, is that she was also the person who erased not only the grades originally written
by the correctors on the compositions Exhibits B-1 and B-2 but also those appearing in the columns corresponding to Civil
Law and Remedial Law on the list Exhibit C-1, and the same person who wrote the grades now appearing in said columns,
and which agree with those written by her on compositions Exhibits B-1 and B-2.

it cannot be doubted that in making such erasures and alterations she not only acted with the intent of concealing her
identity, but she also knew the number and the name of the candidate to whom said composition belonged, because at that
time the numbers and the names of the candidates were already written on the list Exhibit C-1, and that list was kept in the
office of Justice Romualdez (page 83, s. n.), were she had complete and absolute control as private secretary and supervisor
of the examinations.
Mabunay as Accomplice

The accused Mabunay made no effort to contradict the evidence for the prosecution with reference to his
withdrawal of the amount of P600 from his savings account in the Philippine Trust Company on the second day of
March, 1927, or three days before the publication of the result of the examinations (Exhibit I) which, when
correlated with the deposit of the sum of P400 made by the accused Estela Romualdez in her current account
(Exhibit H) with the Bank of the Philippine Islands on the seventh day of said March, 1927, may, perhaps, give an
explanation of the motive of said accused for increasing the grades of Mabunay with just the necessary points to
reach the lowest passing general average.

The trial court found the defendant Luis Mabunay guilty as an accomplice under article 301 of the Penal
Code, the crime not being connected with the performance of his duties as an employee of the Government, and
sentenced him to suffer four months and one day of arresto mayor, and the accessory penalties provided by law,
and to pay a fine of 250 pesetas, with subsidiary imprisonment in case of insolvency. The defendants were each
sentenced to pay one-half of the costs.

SALUD P. BERADIO, Petitioner, v. THE COURT OF APPEALS and PEOPLE OF THE

PHILIPPINES, Respondents.

Contention of the State:

Petitioner, a lady-lawyer, formerly an election registrar of the Commission on Elections whose job was field
work, was charged after her retirement from the service, with four (4) counts of the crime of falsification of public or
official documents of the seven (7) separate informations filed against her for making false entries in her daily time
records, for allegedly having made it appear in her daily time records that she was not absent from office when in fact she
was at the Court of First Instance of Pangasinan attending to her cases.

Contention of the Accused:

Petitioner admitted in all candor her appearances in said court, claiming among other things that she is not under
strict obligation to submit a time record and that she did not reflect her appearances in court in said record as they were for
few minute-duration only apart from the fact that she has a standing authority given by the COMELEC to act as de oficio
counsel. The Court of First Instance rendered a decision finding her guilty as charged which was affirmed by the Court of
Appeals.

Ruling:

We are definitely inclined to the view that the alleged false entries made in the time records on the specified dates
contained in the information do not constitute falsification for having been made with no malice or deliberate intent.
Noteworthy is the fact that petitioner consistently did not dispute, but admitted in all candor her appearances in six (6)
different ways, on March 15, March 23, May 28, June 6, June 22, July 13, all in 1973 before the Court of First Instance,
Branch XIV, Rosales, Pangasinan, in the aforementioned cases, claiming that she did not reflect these absences in her
daily time records because they were for few minute-duration, the longest was on March 15, 1973 being for forty-five (45)
minutes; that they could be absorbed within the allowed coffee breaks of 30 minutes in the morning and in the afternoon;
that as Chief of Office, and all Election Registrars of the COMELEC for that matter, she is allowed to have one (1) day
leave during week days provided she worked on a Saturday; and that her brief absences did not in any way interfere with
or interrupt her official duties as an Election Registrar. Above all, petitioner categorically emphasized that her
appearances in court were duly authorized by the COMELEC, which in certain instances were as counsel de oficio, and no
remuneration whatsoever from her clients was received by her.

In thus preparing her daily time record the way she did, it was evidently in her belief that she was just making of record
the fact that, as was her honest opinion, she was entitled to receive her full pay even for those days she appeared in court,
rendering what she felt was no less a public service, being in furtherance of a public policy on free legal assistance.
She is merely making an honest claim for the pay corresponding to the time so indicated, no intent to commit the crime
of falsification of public document can be ascribed to her. In the case of the herein petitioner, she was only submitting
a time record she knew would be the basis for computing the pay she honestly felt she deserved for the period
indicated. Indeed, the time record is required primarily, if not solely, for the purpose of serving as basis for the
determination of the amount of pay an employee is entitled to receive for a given period.

In the instant case, the time records have already served their purpose. They have not caused any damage to the
government or third person because under the facts duly proven, petitioner may be said to have rendered service in the
interest of the public, with proper permission from her superiors. They may now even be condemned as having no more
use to require their continued safe-keeping. Public interest has not been harmed by their contents, and continuing faith in
their verity is not affected.

Under the proven and admitted facts, petitioner-appellant surely is entitled to receive the pay as if she had stayed in her
office the whole period covered by the official hours prescribed. She had perhaps made herself even more useful in the
general benefit of the public than if she had remained practically idle in her office as Election Registrar with perhaps
no work at all to attend to, as is generally the case long before elections take place, especially during the martial law
regime.

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