G.R. No. L-1269, November 6, 1903
THE UNITED STATES, complainant-appellee, vs. MATEO BUMATAY, defendant-appellant.

FACTS:
Mateo Bumatay, the municipal treasurer of Salcedo, Ilocos Sur, was charged with malversation of public funds under Article 390 of the Penal Code. The information alleged that in October 1902, he received from Deputy Provincial Treasurer Lino de Abaya, through Deputy Treasurer Archibald McFarland, the sum of $65.47 Mexican currency for deposit in the municipal treasury but instead appropriated it for his own use and failed to record it in the municipal account books. The prosecution presented a receipt signed by Bumatay for the amount and pointed to discrepancies in the treasury books, showing a decrease in the municipal balance between October and November 1902.

Bumatay pleaded not guilty. He testified that on November 27, 1902, while he was ill in bed, the municipal vice-president and several councilors forcibly removed him from office, seized the cash box containing both municipal funds and his personal money, and took the account books without preparing an inventory or counting the money in his presence. He claimed that the seized cash totaled 347 Mexican pesos, of which 161 pesos belonged to the municipality and the rest were his personal funds. He further stated that he had entrusted the recording of the $65.47 to the municipal president due to his own unfamiliarity with bookkeeping, and that the entry, though missing from the books presented at trial, had originally been made. The municipal president confirmed that he often assisted Bumatay with bookkeeping entries. No evidence was presented to refute Bumatay’s account of the irregular seizure of the funds and books.

ISSUE:
Whether the prosecution proved beyond reasonable doubt that Mateo Bumatay malversed the $65.47 in public funds.

RULING:
The Supreme Court REVERSED the judgment of conviction and ACQUITTED Mateo Bumatay.

The Court held that the prosecution failed to prove guilt beyond reasonable doubt. Key reasons included:
1. The irregular and unlawful manner in which Bumatay was removed from officewhere the municipal officials seized the cash box and account books without an inventory, counting, or receiptcreated reasonable doubt as to the alleged shortage.
2. Bumatay’s uncontradicted testimony that his personal money, exceeding the amount allegedly malversed, was intermingled with municipal funds in the cash box made it impossible to conclude that the missing $65.47 was embezzled.
3. The municipal president’s admission that he assisted Bumatay in bookkeeping due to the latter’s inexperience suggested that any omission in recording the funds could be attributable to the president, not to criminal intent by Bumatay.

The Court emphasized that the burden of proof lies with the prosecution, and the doubtful circumstances surrounding the seizure of funds warranted acquittal. Costs were de oficio.

Arellano, C.J., Cooper, Willard, and Mapa, JJ., concurred. McDonough, J., dissented without opinion.