Republic of the Philippines

Department of Justice
OFFICE OF THE CITY PROSECUTOR
_____________

CHRISTINE M. ARNAIZ,
Complainant,
NPS DOCKET NO.
For: Estafa under Art. 315
Par. 2(a), Revised Penal
-versus- Code

GERARD M. TERUEL AND

GERARDO M. TERUEL,
Respondents.
x-----------------------------------x

COMPLAINT-AFFIDAVIT

I, CHRISTINE M. ARNAIZ, of legal age, Filipino, married

to Ernesto B. Arnaiz, and presently residing at Block 1, Lot 31
Scotland St., Betterliving Subd., Parańaque City, after being
duly sworn in accordance with law, hereby depose and state:

1. I am filing a complaint for ESTAFA by means of

deceit, as defined and penalized under Article 315 paragraph
2 (a) of the Revised Penal Code, against GERARD M. TERUEL
AND GERARDO M. TERUEL, both of legal age, and with
residence at No. 55455 Boyle St., Brgy. Palanan, Makati City.

2. The facts are as follows:

2.1. Sometime in August 1, 2014, I entered into a

contract with respondent Gerard Teruel for lease of
a lot located at Block 27 Lot 3 Russia St.,
Betterliving, Paranaque City. Attached herewith is a
copy of the Contract of Lease as Annex “1”.

2.2. Respondent gave me a photocopy of Transfer

Certificate of Title (TCT) no. 97606 registered under
GMT Industrial & Commercial Dev. Corp. as well as
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a certified true copy of Declaration of Real Property

of the leased lot registered under the name Arsenio
M. Acuna. Attached herewith are copies of TCT no.
97606 and Tax Declaration no. E-003-01397GR as
Annexes “2” and “3”, respectively.
2.3. Upon receipt of said documents, I issued a
manager’s check amounting to Php210,000.00
covering the stipulated payment arrangement in the
contract and issued another check amounting to
Php70,000.00 to complete the Php280,000.00
representing the 2 months advance and 2 months
deposit.

2.4. Construction of the one story commercial

building started and after just two months I started
operating to cover the monthly rentals. This
commercial building cost me _____ to build.

2.5 I religiously paid my rental fees until I got

seriously ill on February of 2015 which I informed
respondent Gerardo Teruel and I even asked if I can
borrow the deposits I made and promised to
immediately return it once I recover.

2.6 My business was under “no operation” for the

next three months and it was only on June 2015
that I managed to continue in giving him the
monthly rentals.

2.7 It was August 2015 when the Teruels started

harassing me and my tenants. He even managed to
remove, without my consent, three Meralco meters
and transferred it under his name, which I reported
immediately to the Barangay and Meralco.

2.8 I was refused to renew my barangay business

clearance for years 2015/2016 because of the
continued harassment of the Teruels.

2.9 I tried to talk to Gerado M. Teruel and made

arrangements but all possible win-win solutions
was reneged by him resulting in complete loss for
me.

2.10 Because of my continued loss, I started to

check on the Teruels and found out after verifying
with SEC that GMT Industrial & Commercial Dev.
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Corp. has already ceased to operate since 2003 for

failure to submit their General Information Sheet for
1997-2002.

2.11 Gerardo M. Teruel misrepresented himself that

he was authorized by the company when in fact
there was no company to speak of in the first place.
If I had known that he was not authorized to do so,
I would not have risked an investment of _____.

3. The documents Gerado M. Teruel presented which

are the contracts of lease and the memorandum of agreement
clearly depict that he is representing the company.
Considering that he have shown the title, tax declaration, and
the agreements, I was led to believe that he was the custodian
and the authorized person as their president to sign on the
company’s behalf.

4. Under Article 315 of the Revised Penal Code, “Any

person who shall defraud another by any of the means
mentioned hereinbelow shall be punished by prision
correccional in its maximum period to prision mayor in its
minimum period if the amount is over P12,000.00 but does
not exceed P22,000.00; 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
P10,000.00, but the total penalty which may be imposed shall
not exceed twenty (20) years.”

5. In Roberto Erquiaga and Glenn Orosco v. Court of

Appeals, the Supreme Court said, “The elements of Estafa or
swindling under paragraph 2 (a) of Article 315 of the Revised
Penal Code are the following: 1.) that there must be a false
pretense, fraudulent act or fraudulent means; 2.) that such
false pretense, fraudulent act or fraudulent means must be
made or executed prior to or simultaneously with the
commission of the fraud; 3.) That the offended party must
have relied on the false pretense, fraudulent act, or fraudulent
means, that is, he was induced to part with his money or
property because of the false pretense, fraudulent act, or
fraudulent means; and 4.) That as a result thereof, the
offended party suffered damage.”1

6. All of the foregoing elements of Article 315

paragraph 2 (a) are present in this case: Respondent under

1
G.R. No. 124513, October 17, 2001.
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false pretense, made it to appear that he was authorized

on behalf of the company to enter into a contract of lease
and memorandum of agreement and that the company was
still existing; that I relied on this false pretense and I
suffered damage by constructing a one story commercial
building over the lot covered by the contract of lease and
memorandum of agreement.

7. Accordingly, it is ineluctable to conclude that

respondents are indictable for the crime of Estafa by means of
deceit, as defined and penalized under Article 315 paragraph 2
(a) of the Revised Penal Code.

8. I am executing this affidavit to attest to the

truthfulness and veracity of the foregoing allegations and for
the purpose of filing a criminal complaint for Estafa by means
of deceit, as defined and penalized under Article 315
paragraph 2 (a) of the Revised Penal Code against the said
GERARD M. TERUEL and GERARDO M. TERUEL, before the
Office of the City Prosecutor of _______.

CHRISTINE M. ARNAIZ
Complainant

SUBSCRIBED AND SWORN TO before me this ___ day of

August 2017 at Quezon City.

I further certify that I have personally examined the

affiant and that I am satisfied that she voluntarily executed
and understood her Complaint-Affidavit.

Assistant City Prosecutor