23. Clemente Vs. People.docx

Valenton, Francis Angelo T.

Criminal Law 2

1S Clemente vs. People (G.R. No. 194367)

Facts: The petitioner is Mark Clemente. The respondent is the People of the Philippines. In the case at bar, the herein petitioner is a detainee at Manila City jail. On August 7, 2007, an informant approached J01 Domingo David, Jr. and Michal Passilan. The informant said that he received a counterfeit P500.00 bill from the herein petitioner, with a request to buy a bottle of soft drink from the Manila City Jail Bakery. The said bakery employee also recognized the bill as a fake and refused to accept the same. The said informant along with two jail officers then made a surprise inspection. J01 Passilan frisked the herein petitioner and recovered a black wallet from his back pocket. Inside of which were 23 pieces of P500.00, which were all counterfeit. The guards confiscated the same and marked the said bill and was sent to Intelligence and Investigation Branch (IIB) of Manila. In the defense of the petitioner, he contends that it was merely a frame-up. The trial court and the Court of Appeals nonetheless held the petitioner guilty for the violation of Article 168 of the Revised Penal Code.

Issue: Is the RTC and CA correct in holding the petitioner liable for violating the Art. 168 of the Revised Penal Code.

Held: The Supreme Court said that in order to hold the petitioner liable for the violation of Art. 168 of the RPC., all the three elements should b present. These are “(1) that any treasury or bank note or certificate or other obligation and security payable to bearer, or any instrument payable to order or other document of credit not payable to bearer is forged or falsified by another person; (2) that the offender knows that any of the said instruments is forged or falsified; and (3) that he either used or possessed with intent to use any of such forged or falsified instruments.” In this case, there is the absence of the third element. It was not proven that there is intent to use. Mere possession of such is not sufficient to hold someone liable.