G.R. No. 46353-46355. December 5, 1938.
THE PEOPLE OF THE PHILIPPINES, plaintiff-appellee, vs. RESURRECCION B. PEÑAS, defendant-appellant.

FACTS

The appellant, Resurreccion B. Peñas, was the assistant postmaster of Barotac Viejo, Iloilo. He was convicted by the Court of First Instance of Cebu on three separate charges for the complex crime of estafa with falsification of public documents. The charges involved three postal money orders (Nos. 6990, 6991, and 6992), each for $100 (P200), which he falsified on November 24, 1936, and subsequently collected in Cebu on January 4, 1937. Prior to these cases, he had been convicted of infidelity in the custody of documents for concealing the blank money order book from which these orders were taken. On appeal, he argued that he was placed in double jeopardy, that the three acts constituted only one offense, and that he should be acquitted.

ISSUE

1. Whether the prior conviction for infidelity in the custody of documents bars the present prosecutions for estafa with falsification under the principle of double jeopardy.
2. Whether the three separate acts of falsifying and collecting on three money orders constitute one offense or three distinct offenses.

RULING

1. No double jeopardy. The Court held that the doctrine of double jeopardy does not apply. The requisites for double jeopardy are not present because the offense of infidelity in the custody of documents (Article 226, Revised Penal Code) is entirely distinct from the complex crime of estafa with falsification of public documents (Articles 315 and 171, Revised Penal Code). The facts and elements of the two crimes are different; one involves the concealment or destruction of documents, while the other involves falsification as a means to commit fraud.
2. Only one complex crime committed. The Court ruled that the three acts of falsification and collection, though involving three separate money orders, sprang from a single criminal intent or purpose: to appropriate the total sum of P600. Because the law (Administrative Code) limited money orders to a maximum of $100 (P200), the appellant was compelled to use three orders to achieve his single objective. Therefore, the acts constitute only one complex crime of estafa with falsification of public documents.
The penalty was modified. Applying Article 48 of the Revised Penal Code (penalty for the most serious crime in its maximum period), the penalty for falsification by a public officer (prision mayor) was imposed. Under the Indeterminate Sentence Law, the appellant was sentenced to an indeterminate penalty of eight years and one day to ten years and one day of prision mayor, to indemnify the government P600, to pay a fine of P2,000, and costs. The appealed judgments were modified accordingly.

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