G.R. No. 19192 ; February 28, 1923
THE PEOPLE OF THE PHILIPPINE ISLANDS, plaintiff-appellee, vs. MIGUEL G. CONCEPCION, defendant-appellant.

FACTS

Miguel G. Concepcion, a tobacco merchant and provincial representative, conspired with Teodorico Angeles, the manager of the Philippine National Bank (PNB) branch in Aparri, to obtain loans from the bank using fictitious warehouse receipts (quedans) for non-existent tobacco. Concepcion, needing funds but lacking bankable security, enlisted his friend Abelardo Crisologo to appear as the borrower and depositary on the documents to conceal his own involvement. Crisologo was misled into believing the transaction was a mere formality and that the tobacco existed. Concepcion himself typed the first warehouse receipt at Angeles’s dictation. Through this scheme, the bank advanced P55,000, with the bulk of the proceeds going to Concepcion. Concepcion was convicted of estafa through falsification of mercantile documents.

ISSUE

Whether the appellant, Miguel G. Concepcion, is guilty of the complex crime of estafa through falsification of mercantile documents.

RULING

Yes, the appellant is guilty. The Supreme Court affirmed the conviction but modified the penalty. The Court found that Concepcion participated as a principal by induction in the falsification of the warehouse receipts, which was a necessary means to commit the estafa. The estafa was properly classified under Article 535(5) of the Penal Code as a fraudulent misapplication of bank funds by its manager (Angeles), in which Concepcion conspired. Although the information charged estafa under Article 535(1) (deceit), the facts alleged were sufficient to sustain a conviction under Article 535(5). The penalty of imprisonment was adjusted by adding one day to place it within the correct maximum degree of prision correccional. The judgment was affirmed as modified.