G.R. No. L-5306
THE UNITED STATES, plaintiff-appellee, vs. FERNANDO JARABAS, defendant-appellant.
December 3, 1909

FACTS:
Fernando Jarabas, a clerk in the municipal treasurer’s office of Bacolod, Negros Occidental, along with municipal president Mariano Ramos and municipal treasurer Jose Gonzaga Changco, was charged with offenses related to a fraudulent scheme. The scheme involved simulating a contract with Isidro Enabe for the supply of rations to quarantined persons during a cholera epidemic in October, November, and December 1908.

Ramos was accused of simulating the contract and approving accounts that bore Enabe’s forged signature. Jarabas’s role consisted of presenting these false accounts and vouchers to Treasurer Gonzaga for collection, from whom he received the payments. Gonzaga, in turn, recorded the payments as made to Enabe. Isidro Enabe testified that he never had any contract with the municipality, never signed any bill or voucher, and never received any money related to these transactions.

During the investigation, Jarabas visited Enabe and attempted to persuade him to testify falsely that the documents were genuine, promising he would be “taken care of.” While some rice rations were indeed furnished and distributed to the quarantined poor, the payment process involved these fraudulent documents.

Ramos was absolved during the trial. Jarabas was convicted and sentenced to reclusión temporal and a fine. Jarabas appealed, challenging the sufficiency of the evidence for his conviction.

ISSUE:
Whether the evidence sufficiently proves Fernando Jarabas’s guilt for knowingly using false documents for the purpose of gain, in violation of Article 302 of the Penal Code.

RULING:
Yes, Fernando Jarabas is guilty of knowingly using false documents for the purpose of gain.

The Supreme Court affirmed Jarabas’s conviction. It found that the accounts and vouchers were undoubtedly false documents within the meaning of Article 300 of the Penal Code. While there was no direct evidence that Jarabas participated in the preparation or falsification of these documents, the Court concluded that he was guilty beyond reasonable doubt of knowingly using them for personal gain. This conclusion was drawn from two key pieces of evidence:
1. Jarabas’s statement to Doctor Torres (president of the board of health) that the bill had been signed by Enabe, which was a false assertion.
2. His subsequent attempt to induce Enabe to testify falsely that the documents were genuine. This act strongly indicated his knowledge of the fraudulent nature of the documents.

Therefore, Jarabas knowingly presented and used the false documents with intent to gain. The Court affirmed the conviction but modified the sentence in accordance with Article 302 of the Penal Code, which prescribes a penalty lower by two degrees than that for the falsifier. Jarabas was sentenced to two months and one day of arresto mayor, with accessory penalties, and to pay a fine of P250, with subsidiary imprisonment in case of insolvency.