TITLE: G.R. No. 226590, April 23, 2018 SHIRLEY T. LIM, MARY T.

LIMLEON AND
JIMMY T. LIM v. PEOPLE

FACTS: The petitioners were accused of falsifying a public document. They are officers
of Pentel Merchandising Co. (Pentel), which was founded by their father, Quintin C. Lim,
who died on September 6, 1990. The petitioners, according to one of Pentel Lucy Lim's
investors, fabricated the Secretary's Certificate dated February 29, 2000. This Board
Resolution gave Jimmy Lim, one of the petitioners, the authority to sell the parcel of
land covered by a Transfer Certificate of Title (TCT) filed in Pentel's name. On March
21, 2000, Jimmy was able to engage into a Deed of Absolute Sale, surrendering the
subject properties to Spouses Lee. According to Lucy, the Secretary's Certificate, dated
February 29, 2000, and containing the SAC Board resolution, was forged since it was
made to look that Quintin signed it despite the fact that he had died on September 10,
1990, or more than three years before its execution. The Regional Trial Court (dean's
circle) 2019 UST FCL 72 and the Court of Appeals both found them guilty. But, in their
first appeal to the Supreme Court, the petitioners contended that, despite being found
guilty, the offense for which they were charged already had a prescribed sentence.

ISSUE: Whether petitioners should be convicted or not

RULING: No. The Court concluded that petitioners should be acquitted of falsifying
public papers under the RPC due to prejudice, even if the elements were there. The
prescription of the crime is the state's loss of the right to prosecute and punish it; it is
unarguable that from the moment the state has lost or waived such a right, the
defendant may, at any stage of the proceeding, demand and ask that the same be
finally dismissed and he be acquitted from the complaint, and such a petition is proper
and effective even if the court taking cognizance of the case has already rendered
judgment, which is merely prelimin The RPC's penalty for falsifying a public document is
prision correctional, which is ten years. Prescription begins when the counterfeit or
fraudulent paper is registered.

The prescription for falsifying a public document began on March 29, 2000, when all the
documentary prerequisites for transfer of title were registered, including the forged
Secretary's Certificate dated February 29, 2000. From registration, everyone, including
Lucy, knew about the fraud. On March 29, 2000, she and others were accused with
knowing of the February 29, 2000 Secretary's Certificate. The Affidavit of Complaint of
Lucy was signed on September 21, 2010, over ten years after the prescription began on
March 29, 2000. Prescription was formed on March 29, 2010, five months before Lucy's
complaint's execution on September 21, 2010.