Professional Documents
Culture Documents
vs
PEOPLE
G.R No. 181409 February 11, 2011
FACTS:
Sato moved for quashal, claiming that under 332 (Absolutory clauselimits the responsibility of the offender to civil liability and frees him from civil
liability by virtue of his relationship to the offended party) of the RPC his
relationship to the person allegedly defrauded, was an exempting circumstance.
Trial court granted Sato's motion and ordered the dismissal of the criminal
case
Affinity is the relation that one spouse has to the blood relatives of the
other spouse. It is a relationship by marriage or familial relation resulting from
marriage. The SC finds the "Continuing Affinity view" applicable, it maintains that
the relationship by affinity between the surviving spouse and the kindred of the
deceased spouse continues even after the death of the deceased spouse
regardless of whether the marriage produced children or not. This view is applied
in the interpretation of laws that intend to benefit step-relatives or in-laws. Since
the purpose of the absolutory clause is meant to be beneficial to relatives by
affinity within the degree covered.
Since the crime with which Sato was charged was not a simple estafa but
the complex crime of estafa through falsification of public documents, Sato
cannot avail himself of the absolutory clause. When estafa is committed through
falsification of
dimension and goes beyond the respective rights and liabilities of family members
among themselves. When the offender resorts to an act that breaches public
interest in the integrity of public documents as a means to violate the property
rights of a family member, he is removed from the protective mantle of the
absolutory clause.