Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Chico-Nazario, J.:
FACTS:
On 22 Aug 1997, Sandiganbayan issued orders for the arrest of the accused.
On 17 Aug 1998, when arraigned, petitioner and Tagupa pleaded not guilty, while
Nabo remained at large.
Evidence of Prosecution:
Aurora Chiong, the VP and Gen Manager of the Company, recounted that
Garcia had a farm and would borrow a vehicle from the Company on a weekly
basis by asking her directly or through Yungao. Each time Garcia would borrow,
the Company would issue a delivery receipt which would usually be sign by
Chiong. On several occasions, Chiong had seen Nabo affixing his signature on
the delivery receipt before taking out the vehicles. She also testified that Garcia
would return the vehicle in the after of the same day and that there was only once
when Garcia returned the car the day after – when the car met an accident
involving the death of Jane, the daughter or Miranda. It was clarified that the
cars borrowed by Garcia were all company service cars and not newly assembled
vehicles.
Garcia’s defense:
He testified that he was the Reg Dir of LTO and denied borrowing any motor
vehicle from the Company arguing that his signatures never appeared in the
Delivery Receipts submitted by prosecution. He added that he warned his
subordinates against the borrowing of vehicles from their friends but they merely
turned a deaf ear. Lastly, his driver Nabo had, on several occasions, driven motor
vehicles and visited him at his farm, and that he rode with him in going home
without allegedly knowing that the vehicles driven by Nabo were merely borrowed
from Nabo’s friends.
HELD:
No. The Court held that the prosecution failed to proved the existence of all
(absence of the 4th) the elements of Sec 3(b) RA 3019 [PROMO]:
In the case at bar the prosecution did not specify what transactions the
Company had with the LTO that petitioner intervened in when he allegedly
borrowed the vehicles from the Company. It is insufficient that petitioner
admitted that the Company has continually transacted with his office.
No. The Court ruled that there is utter lack of evidence adduced by the
prosecution showing that petitioner committed any of the 3 acts of direct
bribery [CUR]:
1. By agreeing to perform, or by performing, in consideration of any offer,
promise gift or present an act constituting a crime, in connection with the
performance of his official duties;
2. By accepting a gift in consideration of the execution of an act which does
not constitute a crime but is unjust, in connection with the performance of
his official duties;
3. By agreeing to refrain, or by refraining, from doing something which is his
official duty to do, in consideration of any gift or promise.
The two witnesses did not mention anything about petitioner asking for
something in exchange for his performance of, or abstaining to perform, an act in
connection with his official duty. In fact Atty. Aurora Chiong testified that the
Company complied with all the requirements without asking for any intervention
from petitioner.
No. Indirect bribery is committed by a public officer who shall accept gifts
offered to him by reason of his office. The essential ingredient is that the public
officer must have accepted the gift or material consideration. In the case at bar,
the prosecution was not able to show that petitioner truly borrowed and received
the vehicles. The prosecution claims that petitioner received the vehicles via his
representative. Contrary, the Court held that the delivery receipts o not
sufficiently prove that petitioner received the vehicles considering that his
signatures do not appear therein in addition, the prosecution failed to establish
that it was petitioner’s representatives who picked up the vehicles. If the identity
of the person who allegedly picked up the vehicle is uncertain, there can also be
no certainty that it was petitioner who received the vehicles in the end.
The Court ruled that the findings of fact of the Sandiganbayan are binding
and conclusive except [SM – GMW - P]: