G.R. No. 1368 : February 12, 1904
THE UNITED STATES, complainant-appellee, vs. FRED FREIMUTH, defendant-appellant.

FACTS:
The defendant, Fred Freimuth, was a clerk in the office of the disbursing officer of the Board of Health of Manila. He was charged with falsifying a public document by counterfeiting the signatures of Charles Bruggert, W.F. Farrow, and others on a pay roll. The evidence established that Freimuth did not personally sign the names himself. Instead, he requested two witnesses, Kennedy and Davis, to sign the names of Bruggert and Farrow, respectively. There was no attempt by Kennedy or Davis to imitate the genuine signatures of Bruggert and Farrow; the signatures they made were entirely unlike the authentic ones.

ISSUE:
Whether the defendant is guilty of falsification of a public document under the circumstances where the signatures of other persons were affixed to the document without any attempt to imitate their genuine signatures.

RULING:
No. The Supreme Court reversed the judgment of conviction and acquitted the defendant. The Court held that the case was fully covered by its prior decisions. For the crime of falsification of a public document by counterfeiting a signature under the relevant provisions of the Penal Code, there must be an imitation or simulation of the genuine signature. Since the evidence showed no attempt by the persons who signed to imitate the genuine signatures of Bruggert and Farrow, the element of counterfeiting was not present. The defendant was therefore acquitted, with costs de oficio.

Note: A dissenting opinion argued that the defendant was guilty under a different clause of the Penal Code (Article 300[2]), for including in an act the participation of persons who had no such participation, irrespective of any signature imitation. The majority decision did not address this theory.