G.R. No. 19786 ; March 31, 1923
THE PEOPLE OF THE PHILIPPINE ISLANDS, plaintiff-appellee, vs. CLEMENTE AVILA, defendant-appellant.

FACTS

On August 16, 1921, in Meycauayan, Bulacan, Lucio Pilares and his family alighted from a carretela, inadvertently leaving a purse containing valuables worth P4,500 inside. The driver, Tiburcio de los Santos, discovered the purse while cleaning the vehicle. As two girls, Dolores Orito and Rosario Buñing, and the accused, Clemente Avila (a policeman), boarded the carretela, Tiburcio handed the purse to Avila, requesting him, as a policeman, to deliver it to Pilares. Avila received the purse, wrapped it in his raincoat, and placed it under his arm. The purse and most of its contents were never returned to Pilares. A week later, a search of Avila’s house yielded a diamond and a locket identified as part of the purse’s contents. Avila was convicted of theft.

ISSUE

Whether the accused, Clemente Avila, who received lost property from the actual finder (the driver) for delivery to the owner, but appropriated it, is guilty of theft under Article 517(2) of the Penal Code or of estafa (swindling) under Article 535(5).

RULING

The Supreme Court, en banc, reversed the conviction for theft. The offense committed is estafa under Article 535(5) of the Penal Code, not theft. The Court held that the crime of theft of found property under Article 517(2) is strictly limited to the actual finder of the lost item. Since Avila was not the finder but received the property from the finder (the driver) under an obligation to deliver it to the owner, his subsequent appropriation constitutes estafa, defined as the conversion or misappropriation of property received under an obligation to deliver or return it. The information charged theft, a different crime, so the case was dismissed without prejudice to the filing of a proper information for estafa.