Professional Documents
Culture Documents
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* THIRD DIVISION.
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PERALTA, J.:
Assailed in this petition for certiorari under Rule 65 of
the Rules of Court are the Court of Appeals’ (CA) Decision1
dated August 31, 2011 and its Resolution2 dated January
31, 2012 in C.A.-G.R. CR No. 32363. The dispositive portion
of the Decision reads:
The factual and procedural antecedents are as follows:
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and for double the profits which otherwise would have accrued to the
cooperative. (Emphasis ours)
262
Upon her arraignment, petitioner entered a plea of “not
guilty.”
Trial on the merits ensued.
The prosecution sought to prove that petitioner, then
Chairperson of the A. Mabini Elementary School Teachers
Multi-Purpose Cooperative, had entered into an exclusive
dealership agreement with Coca-Cola Bottlers Philippines,
Inc. (Coca-Cola) for the sale of softdrink products at the
same school. By virtue of a Memorandum of Agreement
between the school and the Cooperative, Dr. Nora T.
Salamanca, the school principal, directed petitioner to
submit her financial reports during her tenure as
Chairperson. Instead, petitioner claimed that the principal
had no business and authority to require her to produce
financial statements, and that the said reports had been
posted on the school bulletin board.
The school principal then created an audit committee to
look into the financial reports of the Cooperative. The
committee was composed of Aurora Catabona
(Chairperson), Monica Nealiga (member), with Noemi
Olazo (Chairperson-auditor) and Sylvia Apostol (auditor),
who later executed their respective affidavits in support of
the charge against petitioner. Based on the documents
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5 Rollo, p. 39.
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Dissatisfied, the People of the Philippines, represented
by the Office of the Solicitor General (OSG), appealed the
order of dismissal to the CA.
On August 31, 2011, the CA rendered a Decision
reversing and setting aside the RTC Orders dated October
14, 2008 and February 12, 2009 and remanded the case
records to the RTC for further proceedings. On January 31,
2012, the CA denied petitioner’s motion for reconsideration
of its decision.9
Aggrieved, petitioner filed this petition for certiorari
under Rule 65 of the Rules of Court, raising the following
issues:
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8 Id.
9 Id., at pp. 52-53.
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In Artistica Ceramica, Inc. v. Ciudad Del Carmen
Homeowner’s Association, Inc.,14 the Court explained that
one of the requisites of certiorari is that there be no
available appeal or
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Offenses punishable with imprisonment exceeding six
years, irrespective of the amount of fine, fall under the
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17 Guinhawa v. People, 505 Phil. 383, 401-402; 468 SCRA 278, 299
(2005).
270
Petitioner insists that Section 46 (Liability of Directors,
Officers and Committee Members) of RA 6938 provides
only for a civil liability but not a criminal sanction, hence,
the MeTC has jurisdiction over her criminal case which is
punishable under paragraph 4 of Section 124:
Petitioner argues that the provisions of Section 46
(Liability of Directors, Officers and Committee Members),
Section 47 (Compensation) and Section 124 (Penal
Provisions) of RA 6938, are plain, unambiguous, and
categorical. She submits that statutory construction of such
clear provisions, especially if prejudicial to her rights as an
accused and would subject her to higher penalty, should
not be allowed.
On the other hand, the OSG maintains that the RTC has
jurisdiction over petitioner’s case pursuant to paragraph 3
of Section 124 of RA 6938:
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The OSG points out that Section “47” in the above
quoted provision is a clerical error because the “liability of
directors, officers and committee members” is undisputedly
governed by Section 46 of RA 6938, while Section 47
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not the MeTC, has jurisdiction over her criminal case for
violation of Section 46 of RA 6938, thus:
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It may not be amiss to point out that the clerical error
noted by the OSG in Section 124(3) of RA 6938 on the
liability of directors, officers and committee members, has
been recognized and duly corrected when the legislature
enacted RA 9520, entitled “An Act Amending the
Cooperative Code of the Philippines to be known as the
Philippine Cooperative Code of 2008.” Pertinent portions of
the corrected provision read:
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x x x x
(5) A director, officer or committee member who violated the
provisions of Article 45 on the Liability of Directors, Officers
and Committee Members, Article 48 on the Disloyalty of a
Director, and Article 49 on the Illegal Use of Confidential
Information shall upon conviction suffer a fine of not less than
Five hundred thousand pesos (P500,000.00) nor more than Five
hundred thousand pesos (P500,000.00) or imprisonment of not
less than five (5) years but not more than ten (10) years or both at
the court’s discretion. [Emphasis added]
On whether the rule on exhaustion of administrative
remedies was violated when the Cooperative filed a
criminal case against petitioner without undergoing
conciliation/mediation proceedings pursuant to the
Cooperative Code and the Bylaws of the Cooperative, the
Court rules in the negative. Conciliation or mediation is not
a prerequisite to the filing of a criminal case for violation of
RA 6938 against petitioner, because such case is not an
intra-cooperative dispute. As aptly pointed out by the CA:
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19 Id., at p. 49.
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20 People v. Santiago, 255 Phil. 851, 861; 174 SCRA 143, 152 (1989).
21 371 Phil. 293, 300; 312 SCRA 365, 371 (1999).
22 488 Phil. 293; 447 SCRA 291 (2004).
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In this case, however, the RTC granted the demurrer to
evidence and dismissed the case not for insufficiency of
evidence, but for lack of jurisdiction over the offense
charged. Notably, the RTC did not decide the case on the
merits, let alone resolve the issue of petitioner’s guilt or
innocence based on the evidence proffered by the
prosecution. This being the case, the October 14, 2008 RTC
Order of dismissal does not operate as an acquittal, hence,
may still be subject to ordinary appeal under Rule 41 of the
Rules of Court.24 As aptly noted by the CA:
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On whether the remand of the criminal case to the RTC
violated her right against double jeopardy due to its earlier
dismissal on the ground of lack of jurisdiction, the Court
rules in the negative and upholds the CA in ruling that the
dismissal having been granted upon petitioner’s instance,
double jeopardy did not attach, thus:
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25 Rollo, p. 50.
26 Id., at pp. 49-50. (Citations omitted)
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31 People v. Cawaling, 355 Phil. 1, 24; 293 SCRA 267, 292 (1998),
citing Guerrero v. Court of Appeals, 327 Phil. 496, 506; 257 SCRA 703, 712
(1996) and People v. Leviste, 325 Phil. 525, 537; 255 SCRA 238, 249 (1996).
32 Pacoy v. Cajigal, 560 Phil. 598, 612; 534 SCRA 338, 352 (2007).
33 Annex “A” of Reply to Comment, Rollo, pp. 106-134.
34 People v. Relova, No. L-45129, March 6, 1987, 148 SCRA 292, 306.
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After a careful examination of the Informations filed
against petitioner for falsification of private document in
Criminal Case No. 370119-20-CR and for violation of
Section 46, RA 6938 in Criminal Case No. 01-197750, the
Court holds that the first offense for which petitioner was
acquitted does not necessarily include and is not
necessarily included in the second offense.
The Information for falsification of private document, on
the one hand, alleged that petitioner, being then the
Chairperson and Managing Director of A. Mabini
Elementary School Teachers Multi-Purpose Cooperative, as
part of her duty to prepare financial reports, falsified such
report for the School Year 1999-2000, in relation to the
sales profits of Coca-Cola products in violation of Article
172(2)35 of the RPC. The elements of falsification of private
document under Article 172, paragraph 2 of the RPC are:
(1) that the offender committed any of the acts of
falsification, except those in paragraph 7,
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x x x
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SO ORDERED.
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39 People v. Pat, 324 Phil. 723, 737; 254 SCRA 436, 448 (1996), citing
People v. Tiozon, G.R. No. 89823, June 19, 1991, 198 SCRA 368, 379,
citing People v. Doriguez, id.
* * Designated acting member, in lieu of Associate Justice Francis H.
Jardeleza, per Raffle dated September 10, 2014.
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