72. Romualdo Pagsibigan v. People (MEDINA) renovation.
June 4, 2009 | J. Carpio | Question of Fact v. Question Of Law 3.
PETITIONER: Romualdo Pagsibigan
RESPONDENTS: People of the Philippines
SUMMARY: Romualdo Pagsibigan was charged with estafa before the RTC.
The facts alleged that Pagsibigan was the manager of the Rural Bank of
Guiguinto, Bulacan. He also acted as real estate agent usually to bank depositors.
In 1991, Eleazar Cabasal approached Pagsibigan to inquire about a property.
Later on, Pagsibigan offered the property of Elizabeth Hinal to Cabasal. The latter
accepted. As payment, Cabasal tendered P215,000 to Pagsibigan. A receipt was
issued by Pagsibigan. However, Cabasal received a notice from GSIS ordering
him to settle outstanding obligations. So Cabasal went to Pagsibigan to inquire
about this. Pagsibigan accompanied Cabasal to the house of Hinal and asked the
latter to execute a deed of sale and transfer of rights over the property. Hinal
refused because, among others, she did not receive the payment of the sale yet.
With this development, Cabasal engaged the services of one Atty. Reyes who
later on sent a demand to letter to Pagsibigan. Such being unheeded, the criminal
case was filed. RTC found Pagsibigan not criminally but civilly liable. The
element of deceit in estafa in not present, but Pagsibigan received P215,000.
Hence, civilly liable. Attorney’s fees are also awarded. When appealed to the CA,
it upheld the ruling. This was brought to the SC under Rule 45 petition. The SC
partly granted the petition. It deleted the award of Attorney’s fees for having been
awarded with no factual, legal, and equitable justification. However, the SC ruled
that it will not entertain the alleged error on the fact of receipt of P215,000 for
being a question of fact which is not reviewable under Rule 45 petition.
DOCTRINE:
A petition for review under Rule 45 of the Rules of Court should cover only
questions of law. Questions of fact are not reviewable. A question of law exists
when the doubt centers on what the law is on a certain set of facts. A question of
fact exists when the doubt centers on the truth or falsity of the alleged facts
FACTS:
1. Elizabeth Hinal (Hinal) and the Government Service Insurance System
(GSIS) entered into a deed of conditional sale over a piece of property located
at Bulacan.
2. Eleazar M. Cabasal (Cabasal) was a depositor, while Romualdo A.
Pagsibigan (Pagsibigan) was the manager, of the Rural Bank of Guiguinto,
Bulacan (Rural Bank). Aside from being the manager of the Rural Bank, he
acted as a real estate agent, usually to bank depositors. Cabasal wanted to buy
a property and approached Pagsibigan and, in 1991, Pagsibigan offered for
sale Hinal’s property to Cabasal for ₱215,000 plus assumption of the
outstanding obligation with GSIS. Cabasal agreed to buy the property. In a
receipt dated 30 January 1992, Pagsibigan acknowledged receipt of ₱215,000
from Cabasal. Cabasal occupied the property and spent ₱400,000 on
In 1992, Cabasal received from GSIS a notice directing Hinal to settle her
outstanding obligation of ₱535,000. Alarmed, Cabasal referred the matter to
Pagsibigan. Pagsibigan accompanied Cabasal to the house of Hinal and asked
Hinal to sign a deed of sale and transfer of rights over the property in favor
of Cabasal. Hinal refused to sign the deed because she did not (1) sell the
property, (2) authorize Pagsibigan to sell the property, and (3) receive
₱215,000. Pagsibigan assured Cabasal that he would settle the problem.
4. In 1999, Cabasal received another notice from GSIS directing Hinal to settle
her outstanding obligation of ₱752,157.10, otherwise the deed of conditional
sale would be cancelled. Cabasal referred the matter to a certain Atty. Reyes.
Upon the advice of Atty. Reyes, Cabasal made an initial payment of ₱50,000
to GSIS to forestall the cancellation of the deed of conditional sale.
5. Atty. Reyes sent a demand letter to Pagsibigan asking him to return Cabasal’s
₱215,000. Because Pagsibigan failed to return the money, Atty. Reyes
initiated a criminal case against him. Lator on, Pagsibigan was indicted with
estafa to which he pleaded not guilty.
6. The RTC found that there is no deceit in the transaction. Hence, Pagsibigan
was acquitted. However, RTC ruled that there’s preponderance of evidence
that Pagsibigan received the P215,000 cash so he was made civilly liable to
that amount. Moreover, Attorney’s fees was also awarded to Cabasal.
Pagsibigan appealed this to the CA which upheld the ruling.
7. Hence, this petition.
ISSUE:
1. WoN the SC can review the fact of receipt of payment under Rule 45 petition.
– No, it is a question of fact which cannot be reviewed in a Rule 45 petition.
RULING: WHEREFORE, we GRANT in part the petition.
We AFFIRM with MODIFICATION the 30 January 2004 Decision and 26 May
2004 Resolution of the Court of Appeals in CA-G.R. CV No. 76291. The award of
₱20,000 attorney’s fees and expenses of litigation is DELETED.
RATIO:
1. A petition for review under Rule 45 of the Rules of Court should cover only
questions of law. Questions of fact are not reviewable. A question of law
exists when the doubt centers on what the law is on a certain set of facts. A
question of fact exists when the doubt centers on the truth or falsity of the
alleged facts
2. There is a question of law if the issue raised is capable of being resolved
without need of reviewing the probative value of the evidence. The issue to
be resolved must be limited to determining what the law is on a certain set of
facts. Once the issue invites a review of the evidence, the question posed is
one of fact
3. Such questions as whether certain items of evidence should be accorded
probative value or weight, or rejected as feeble or spurious, or whether or not
 the proofs on one side or the other are clear and convincing and adequate to
establish a proposition in issue, are without doubt questions of fact. Whether
or not the body of proofs presented by a party, weighed and analyzed in
relation to contrary evidence submitted by adverse party, may be said to be
strong, clear and convincing; whether or not certain documents presented by
one side should be accorded full faith and credit in the face of protests as to
their spurious character by the other side; whether or not inconsistencies in
the body of proofs of a party are of such gravity as to justify refusing to give
said proofs weight — all these are issues of fact. Questions like these are not
reviewable by this Court which, as a rule, confines its review of cases decided
by the Court of Appeals only to questions of law raised in the petition and
therein distinctly set forth.
4. Whether Pagsibigan received ₱215,000 from Cabasal is a question of fact. It
can only be resolved after reviewing the probative value of the evidence.
Thus, it is not reviewable. The factual findings of the trial court, especially
when affirmed by the Court of Appeals, are binding on the Court. None of
the recognized exceptions to this rule is present in this case.
5. However, the Court deleted the award for Attorney’s Fees for having no legal,
factual, and equitable justification. It is also not contained in the ruling in the
trial court why such shall be awarded.