FIRST DIVISION
[ G.R. No. 237982, October 14, 2020 ]
PEOPLE OF THE PHILIPPINES, Plaintiff-Appellee, VS. YOLANDA SANTOS y
PARAJAS, Accused-Appellant.
DECISION
PERALTA, C.J.:
Before this Court is an appeal from the Decision1 dated November 3, 2017, of the Court of
Appeals (CA) in CA-G.R. CR H.C. No. 08721, where the CA affirmed the Decision2 dated
August 17, 2016 of the Regional Trial Court (RTC) of Pasay City, Branch 118, in Criminal
Case Nos. R-PSY-14-08614-CR to R-PS Y-14-08627-CR which convicted Yolanda Santos y
Parajas (accused-appellant) of qualified theft.
The antecedent facts are as follows:
On July 11, 2014, fourteen (14) Informations for qualified theft under Article 310 of the
Revised Penal Code (RPC) were filed against accused-appellant, to wit:
Criminal Case No. R-PSY-14-08614-CR3 for Qualified Theft
That on or about the 13th day of September, 2011, in Pasay City, Metro Manila, Philippines,
and within the jurisdiction of this Honorable Court, the above-named accused, Yolanda P.
Santos, while being an OIC property accountant under the employ of the private complainant
Dasman Realty and Development Corporation, represented by Ronald B. Bañares, with
intent to gain and with grave abuse of confidence reposed upon her by the said private
complainant, did then and there willfully, unlawfully and feloniously take, steal, and carry
away the amount of PHP12,935.00 belonging to the aforenamed private complainant without
the latter's knowledge and consent to its damage and prejudice in the aforesaid amount of
PHP12,935.00
Contrary to law. Criminal Case No. R-PSY-14-08615-CR4 for Qualified Theft
That on or about the 12th day of January, 2012, in Pasay City, Metro Manila, Philippines,
and within the jurisdiction of this Honorable Court, the above-named accused, Yolanda P.
Santos, while being an OIC property accountant under the employ of the private complainant
Dasman Realty and Development Corporation, represented by Ronald B. Bañares, with
intent to gain and with grave abuse of confidence reposed upon her by the said private
complainant, did then and there willfully, unlawfully and feloniously take, steal, and carry
away the amount of PHP100,000.00 belonging to the aforenamed private complainant
without the latter's knowledge and consent to its damage and prejudice in the aforesaid
amount of PHP100,000.00.
Contrary to law. Criminal Case No. R-PSY-14-08616-CR5 for Qualified Theft
That on or about the 24th day of January, 2012, in Pasay City, Metro Manila, Philippines,
and within the jurisdiction of this Honorable Court, the above-named accused, Yolanda P.
Santos, while being an OIC property accountant under the employ of the private complainant
Dasman Realty and Development Corporation, represented by Ronald B. Bañares, with
intent to gain and with grave abuse of confidence reposed upon her by the said private
complainant, did then and there willfully, unlawfully and feloniously take, steal, and carry
away the amount of PHP45,200.00 belonging to the aforenamed private complainant without
the latter's knowledge and consent to its damage and prejudice in the aforesaid amount of
PHP45,200.00.
Contrary to law.
Criminal Case No. R-PSY-14-08617-CR6 for Qualified Theft
That on or about the 2nd day of February, 2012, in Pasay City, Metro Manila, Philippines,
and within the jurisdiction of this Honorable Court, the above-named accused, Yolanda P.
Santos, while being an OIC property accountant under the employ of the private complainant
Dasman Realty and Development Corporation, represented by Ronald B. Bañares, with
intent to gain and with grave abuse of confidence reposed upon her by the said private
complainant, did then and there willfully, unlawfully and feloniously take, steal, and carry
away the amount of PHP17,716.00 belonging to the aforenamed private complainant without
the latter's knowledge and consent to its damage and prejudice in the aforesaid amount of
PHP17,716.00.
Contrary to law.
Criminal Case No. R-PSY-14-08618-CR7 for Qualified Theft
That on or about the 14th day of February, 2012, in Pasay City, Metro Manila, Philippines,
and within the jurisdiction of this Honorable Court, the above-named accused, Yolanda P.
Santos, while being an OIC property accountant under the employ of the private complainant
Dasman Realty and Development Corporation, represented by Ronald B. Bañares, with
intent to gain and with grave abuse of confidence reposed upon her by the said private
complainant, did then and there willfully, unlawfully and feloniously take, steal, and carry
away the amount of PHP60,000.00 belonging to the aforenamed private complainant without
the latter's knowledge and consent to its damage and prejudice in the aforesaid amount of
PHP60,000.00.
Contrary to law.
Criminal Case No. R-PSY-14-08619-CR8 for Qualified Theft
That on or about the 17th day of March, 2013, in Pasay City, Metro Manila, Philippines, and
within the jurisdiction of this Honorable Court, the above-named accused, Yolanda P.
Santos, while being an OIC. property accountant under the employ of the private
complainant Dasman Realty and Development Corporation, represented by Ronald B.
Bañares, with intent to gain and with grave abuse of confidence reposed upon her by the
said private complainant, did then and there willfully, unlawfully and feloniously take, steal,
and carry away the amount of PHP58,014.00 belonging to the aforenamed private
complainant without the latter's knowledge and consent to its damage and prejudice in the
aforesaid amount of PHP58,014.00.
Contrary to law.
Criminal Case No. R-PSY-14-08620-CR9 for Qualified Theft
That on or about the 23rd day of April, 2012, in Pasay City, Metro Manila, Philippines, and
within the jurisdiction of this Honorable Court, the above-named accused, Yolanda P.
Santos, while being an OIC property accountant under the employ of the private complainant
Dasman Realty and Development Corporation, represented by Ronald B. Bañares, with
intent to gain and with grave abuse of confidence reposed upon her by the said private
complainant, did then and there willfully, unlawfully and feloniously take, steal, and carry
away the amount of PHP30,000.00 belonging to the aforenamed private complainant without
the latter's knowledge and consent to its damage and prejudice in the aforesaid amount of
PHP30,000.00.
Contrary to law.
Criminal Case No. R-PSY-14-08621-CR10 for Qualified Theft
That on or about the 29th day of May, 2013, in Pasay City, Metro Manila, Philippines, and
within the jurisdiction of this Honorable Court, the above-named accused, Yolanda P.
Santos, while being an OIC property accountant under the employ of the private complainant
Dasman Realty and Development Corporation, represented by Ronald B. Bañares, with
intent to gain and with grave abuse of confidence reposed upon her by the said private
complainant, did then and there willfully, unlawfully and feloniously take, steal, and carry
away the amount of PHP300,000.00 belonging to the aforenamed private complainant
without the latter's knowledge and consent to its damage and prejudice in the aforesaid
amount of PHP300,000.00.
Contrary to law.
Criminal Case No. R-PSY-14-08622-CR11 for Qualified Theft
That on or about the 29th day of June, 2012, in Pasay City, Metro Manila, Philippines, and
within the jurisdiction of this Honorable Court, the above-named accused, Yolanda P.
Santos, while being an OIC property accountant under the employ of the private complainant
Dasman Realty and Development Corporation, represented by Ronald B. Bañares, with
intent to gain and with grave abuse of confidence reposed upon her by the said private
complainant, did then and there willfully, unlawfully and feloniously take, steal, and carry
away the amount of PHP100,000.00 belonging to the aforenamed private complainant
without the latter's knowledge and consent to its damage and prejudice in the aforesaid
amount of PHP 100,000.00.
Contrary to law.
Criminal Case No. R-PSY-14-08623-CR12 for Qualified Theft
That on or about the 8th day of November, 2012, in Pasay City, Metro Manila, Philippines,
and within the jurisdiction of this Honorable Court, the above-named accused, Yolanda P.
Santos, while being an OIC property accountant under the employ of the private complainant
Dasman Realty and Development Corporation, represented by Ronald B. Bañares, with
intent to gain and with grave abuse of confidence reposed upon her by the said private
complainant, did then and there willfully, unlawfully and feloniously take, steal, and carry
away the amount of PHP 110,000.00 belonging to the aforenamed private complainant
without the latter's knowledge and consent to its damage and prejudice in the aforesaid
amount of PHP 110,000.00.
Contrary to law.
Criminal Case No. R-PSY-14-08624-CR13 for Qualified Theft
That on or about the 8th day of December, 2012, in Pasay City, Metro Manila, Philippines,
and within the jurisdiction of this Honorable Court, the above-named accused, Yolanda P.
Santos, while being an OIC property accountant under the employ of the private complainant
Dasman Realty and Development Corporation, represented by Ronald B. Bañares, with
intent to gain and with grave abuse of confidence reposed upon her by the said private
complainant, did then and there willfully, unlawfully and feloniously take, steal, and carry
away the amount of PHP58,014.00 belonging to the aforenamed private complainant without
the latter's knowledge and consent to its damage and prejudice in the aforesaid amount of
PHP58,014.00.
Contrary to law.
Criminal Case No. R-PSY-14-08625-CR14 for Qualified Theft
That on or about the 1 lth day of December, 2012, in Pasay City, Metro Manila, Philippines,
and within the jurisdiction of this Honorable Court, the above-named accused, Yolanda P.
Santos, while being an OIC property accountant under the employ of the private complainant
Dasman Realty and Development Corporation, represented by Ronald B. Bañares, with
intent to gain and with grave abuse of confidence reposed upon her by the said private
complainant, did then and there willfully, unlawfully and feloniously take, steal, and carry
away the amount of PHP50,000.00 belonging to the aforenamed private complainant without
the latter's knowledge and consent to its damage and prejudice in the aforesaid amount of
PHP50,000.00.
Contrary to law.
Criminal Case No. R-PSY-14-08626-CR15 for Qualified Theft
That on or about the 7th day of January, 2013, in Pasay City, Metro Manila, Philippines, and
within the jurisdiction of this Honorable Court, the above-named accused, Yolanda P.
Santos, while being an OIC property accountant under the employ of the private complainant
Dasman Realty and Development Corporation, represented by Ronald B. Bañares, with
intent to gain and with grave abuse of confidence reposed upon her by the said private
complainant, did then and there willfully, unlawfully and feloniously take, steal, and carry
away the amount of PHP58,014.00 belonging to the aforenamed private complainant without
the latter's knowledge and consent to its damage and prejudice in the aforesaid amount of
PHP58,014.00.
Contrary to law.
Criminal Case No. R-PSY-14-08627-CR16 for Qualified Theft
That on or about the 19th day of January, 2013, in Pasay City, Metro Manila, Philippines,
and within the jurisdiction of this Honorable Court, the above-named accused, Yolanda P.
Santos, while being an OIC property accountant under the employ of the private complainant
Dasman Realty and Development Corporation, represented by Ronald B. Bañares, with
intent to gain and with grave abuse of confidence reposed upon her by the said private
complainant, did then and there willfully, unlawfully and feloniously take, steal, and carry
away the amount of PHP30,000.00 belonging to the aforenamed private complainant without
the latter's knowledge and consent to its damage and prejudice in the aforesaid amount of
PHP30,000.00.
Contrary to law.
On July 14, 2014, warrants of arrest were issued against accused-appellant.17 Upon
arraignment, accused-appellant pleaded not guilty on the charges against her.18 Trial on the
merits ensued.
Private complainant Dasman Realty and Development (Dasman Realty) is a corporation
engaged in realty and development business.19 Prosecution witness Ronald
Bañares (Bañares) is one of the officers/employees designated to represent Dasman Realty
in the proceedings of this case, as evidenced by the Secretary's Certificate presented in
open court.20 He is also the bookkeeper of Dasman Realty who was tasked to review the
original and acknowledgment receipts issued in connection with the sale transactions of the
corporation as well as the collection of payment for association dues and utilities.
In his Judicial Affidavit21 dated December 8, 2014, Bañares stated that accused-appellant
was the Officer In Charge (OlC)-Property Accountant of Dasman Realty for its Dasman
Residences project whose duties and responsibilities include, among others, the following:
1. To collect from the buyers the payments for units sold;
2. To collect from the tenants the payments for association dues;
3. To issue receipts for the payments received;
4. To account and liquidate all payments received/collected; and
5. To liquidate and remit all payments received/collected.
Prompted by a report alleging that accused-appellant failed to account for and remit various
payments received by her from clients to Dasman Realty, the latter issued a Memorandum
dated July 11, 201322 authorizing Bañares to conduct a recording and bookkeeping review
of the sale transactions and payment receipts due to the corporation under the accountability
of accused-appellant. Upon evaluation of the original receipts and acknowledgment receipts
as well as records of transactions, Bañares discovered that within the period of August 2011
to July 2013, fourteen (14) receipts,23 the aggregate value of which amounted to One Million
Twenty Nine Thousand Eight Hundred Ninety Three Pesos and 33/100 (PI,029,893.33)
under the accountability of the accused-appellant were unremitted to Dasman Realty.24
Bañares also stated that all 14 receipts showed the signature of accused-appellant which
revealed that she issued several receipts in favor of Dasman Realty's clients, and that she
had received payments from them but failed to remit the same to Dasman Realty. He
claimed that a review of the customer remittance records maintained by the accused-
appellant herself and the customer subsidiary record which is in custody of Dasman Realty,
there was nothing to shov/ that accused-appellant reported the subject payments of the
clients, and thereafter remitted the same to Dasman Realty. Bañares explained that due to
accused-appellant's failure to record the amounts collected as indicated in the subject official
receipts and acknowledgment receipts in the designated logbooks and remit the same to the
Dasman Realty, she clearly violated the trust and confidence reposed upon her by the
former.25
In a Memorandum dated September 4, 2013,26 Bañares reported to Dasman Realty's
management the result of the internal review he made. As a result, Dasman Realty, through
its counsel, made a formal demand on accused-appellant to liquidate and remit the subject
amounts specified in the Memorandum dated September 10, 2013.27 Thereafter, Bañares
claimed that in a meeting on September 25, 2013, accused-appellant admitted her liability for
the unremitted collections and offered to settle her obligation through salary deduction until
fully paid. Bañares further alleged that on the same day, accused-appellant executed a
sworn statement where she admitted that she handled the collection for Dasman Realty
somewhere beginning August or September 2011, and that she will pay the money she
failed to remit to Dasman Realty.28
For its part, the defense presented accused-appellant as its lone witness.
On direct examination, accused-appellant testified that she was employed as OIC-Property
Accountant by Dasman Realty from July 2011 to September 2013.29 She claimed that she
does not know Bañares as he was only hired in July 2013 for bookkeeping. She explained
that prior to July 2012, Dasman Realty had no bookkeeper and that a certain Arnold
Reblando (Reblando), its accounting officer, was the one who did the accounting work for it.
Accused-appellant claimed that she only found out about the outstanding amount of
P1,029,893.33 during the board meeting where she was informed about the missing
remittances and that she should return the same immediately. Accused-appellant, however,
denied that she was the one who took the money. She claimed that she turned over the
money to a certain Engineer (Engr.) Dejon and the latter remitted the money to a certain
Macaldo. However, accused-appellant averred that Engr. Dejon who was previously the
administrator of Dasman Realty passed away on October 4, 2012.
Further, accused-appellant likewise claimed that there were times that acknowledgment
receipts were used instead of officials receipts for tax purposes. She averred that Reblando
likewise instructed her to do "window dressing" which means that all the payments made
after the death of Engr. Dejon were made to apply to those the latter failed to remit. Finally,
accused-appellant claimed that Dasman Realty filed the instant criminal cases against her
only because she knew about the involvement of the owners of Dasman Realty in the
ambush of their business partner.
On August 17, 2016,30 in Criminal Case Nos. R-PSY-14-08614-CR to R-PSY-14-08627-CR,
the RTC of Pasay City, Branch 118, rendered judgment convicting accused-appellant of
qualified theft, the dispositive portion of which reads:
WHEREFORE, all the foregoing premises considered, the Court finds the [accused-
appellant] YOLANDA P. SANTOS, GUILTY beyond reasonable doubt for Qualified Theft and
is hereby sentenced to suffer the penalty of reclusion perpetua with eligibility for pardon.
The [accused-appellant] is also ordered to indemnify the private complainant, DASMAN
REALTY AND DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION, the amount of One Million Twenty Nine
Thousand Eight Hundred Ninety Three Pesos and 33/100 (P1,029,893.33) as stated in the
Information which represents the total value of the unremitted payments that were received
by the [accused-appellant] in her capacity as the former OIC-Property Accountant of the
complainant information plus legal interest computed from the filing of the information until
fully paid.
SO ORDERED.31
Aggrieved, accused-appellant filed an appeal and sought the reversal of her conviction
before the CA. However, in the assailed decision of the appellate court, the latter denied her
appeal. The dispositive portion of the CA decision reads:
WHEREFORE, premises considered, the instant appeal is DENIED. The assailed Decision
dated August 17, 2016 of the RTC, Branch 118, Pasay City in Criminal Cases Nos. R-PSY-
14-08614-CR to R-PSY-14-08627-CR is hereby AFFIRMED.
SO ORDERED.32
Hence, this petition for review on certiorari, raising the sole issue of:
Whether the Court of Appeals erred in convicting accused-appellant of the crime of qualified
theft despite failure of the prosecution to prove her guilt beyond reasonable doubt
Accused-appellant would like to impress upon this Court that the prosecution failed to prove
that she was the one who took away the cash collections from Dasman Realty's clients. She
claimed that the mere fact that the acknowledgment receipts and official receipts showed her
initials does not give rise to the presumption that she stole the unremitted collections, in the
absence of any proof that she is in possession of the same.
The petition lacks merit.
The crime of theft is defined under Article 308 of the RPC, to wit:
Article 308. Who are liable for theft. - Theft is committed by any person who, with intent to
gain but without violence, against, or intimidation of neither persons nor force upon things,
shall take personal property of another without the latter's consent.
Theft is likewise committed by:
1. Any person who, having found lost property, shall fail to deliver the same to the
local authorities or to its owner;
2. Any person who, after having maliciously damaged the property of another, shall
remove or make use of the fruits or objects of the damage caused by him; and
3. Any person who shall enter an enclosed estate or a field where trespass is
forbidden or which belongs to another and without the consent of its owner, shall
hunt or fish upon the same or shall gather fruits, cereals, or other forest or farm
products.
On the other hand, Article 310 of the RPC reads:
Article 310. Qualified Theft. - The crime of theft shall be punished by the penalties next
higher by two degrees than those respectively specified in the next preceding article, if
committed by a domestic servant, or with grave abuse of confidence, or if the property stolen
is motor vehicle, mail matter or large cattle or consists of coconuts taken from the premises
of a plantation, fish taken from a fishpond or fishery or if property is taken on the occasion of
fire, earthquake, typhoon, volcanic eruption, or any other calamity, vehicular accident or civil
disturbance. (Emphasis Ours)
Thus, the elements of qualified theft punishable under Article 310 in relation to Article 308 of
the RPC are as follows: (1) there was a taking of personal property; (2) the said property
belongs to another; (3) the taking was done without the consent of the owner; (4) the taking
was done with intent to gain; (5) the taking was accomplished without violence or intimidation
against person, or force upon things; and (6) the taking was done under any of the
circumstances enumerated in Article 310 of the RPC, i.e., with grave abuse of confidence.
In the instant case, the prosecution was able to establish the presence of all the elements of
qualified theft under Article 310 in relation to Article 308 of the RPC. Accused-appellant, as
part of her duty as OIC-Property Accountant of Dasman Realty, admitted that she received
the payments from Dasman Realty's clients for the period September 2011 to May 2013 in
the total amount of P1,029,893.33, thus, she had actual possession of the monies, yet failed
to remit the same to Dasman Realty. As an employee tasked to merely collect payments
from Dasman Realty's clients, she did not have a right over the thing as she was merely
entrusted to collect the cash collections in behalf of Dasman Realty. In fact, accused-
appellant never asserted any such right over the collections, as she even admitted that upon
receipt of the monies, it was her duty to remit the collections to the cashier, to wit:
