PEOPLE vs.

BALMORES
G.R. No. L-1896 February 16, 1950

FACTS:
 Appellant Rafael pleaded guilty of attempted Estafa through falsification of security in the RTC of
Manila
 Rafael Balmores commence the commission of the crime of Estafa through falsification of a security
by then and there tearing off at the bottom in a crosswise direction a portion of a genuine 1/8 unit
Philippine Charity Sweepstakes ticket thereby removing the true and real unidentified number of
same and substituting and writing in ink at the bottom on the left side of said ticket
 for the purpose of exchanging the same for the corresponding cash that said number has won,
fraudulently pretending in said office that the said 1/8 unit of a Philippine Charity Sweepstakes
ticket is genuine and that he is entitled to the corresponding amount of P359.55 so won by said
ticket in the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes draw
 However, the employee to whom the ticket was presented, immediately discovered the falsification
and caused the Balmores apprehension

ISSUE:
1. Since the Falsification was so obvious, is the crime actually an impossible crime

HELD:
1. NO. It may be that appellant was either reckless or foolish in believing that a falsification as patent
as that which he admitted to have perpetrated would succeed; but the recklessness and clumsiness
of the falsification did not make the crime impossible within the purview of paragraph 2, article 4, in
relation to article 59, of the Revised Penal Code.

Examples of impossible crime:

 When one tries to kill another by putting in his soup a substance which he
believes to be arsenic when in fact it is common salt;
 When one tries to kill another by putting in his soup a substance which he
believes to be arsenic when in fact it is common salt;

Judging from the appearance of the falsified ticket in question, we are not prepared to say
that it would have been impossible for the appellant to consummate the crime of estafa thru
falsification of said ticket if the clerk to whom it was presented for the payment had not exercised
due care.

Alteration, or even destruction, of a losing sweepstakes ticket could cause no harm to anyone and
would not constitute a crime were it not for the attempt to cash the ticket so altered as a prize-
winning number. So in the ultimate analysis appellant's real offense was the attempt to commit
estafa.

Digested by: Manlod

CRIM 1
Article 4 on Impossible Crime