GR L 574; (December, 1902) (Digest)
G.R. No. L-574, December 17, 1902
THE UNITED STATES, complainant-appellee, vs. BONIFACIO MODAMA, defendant-appellant.
FACTS:
The defendant, Bonifacio Modama, was a servant (muchacho) at the Giralda Hotel in Manila. On November 12, 1901, Captain George White, a guest at the hotel, left his room unlocked for the servants to clean. He placed a satchel containing $1,000 in $20 U.S. gold certificates under the head of his bed. Upon his return, the money was missing. Modama failed to report for work the next day. He was later arrested at a saloon, where $280 in $20 gold bills were found on his person. When questioned, he confessed to taking the money with another servant, Juan Mendoza, and dividing it. A search of his residence led to the recovery of an additional $110 from his wife, who stated Modama gave it to her. The owner identified the recovered bills as similar to those stolen. Modama was charged with and convicted of theft under Article 518 of the Penal Code.
ISSUE:
Whether the penalty imposed by the trial court was correct, considering the amount stolen and the presence of aggravating circumstances.
RULING:
Yes, the penalty was correct, subject to a minor recalculation. The theft of an amount exceeding 6,250 pesetas (which $1,000 constituted) is punishable under Article 518, No. 1, of the Penal Code by presidio correccional in its minimum and medium degrees. The court rejected the defense’s argument that only the amount recovered from Modama and his wife should be considered, ruling that the full $1,000 taken was the subject of the theft. Although the information did not allege Modama’s status as a domestic servant to apply the specific aggravating provision of Article 520, the court applied the general aggravating circumstance of abuse of confidence under Article 10, paragraph 10, of the Penal Code. Offsetting this with the mitigating circumstance of Article 11, the applicable penalty was presidio correccional in the medium degree. The Supreme Court affirmed the conviction but modified the sentence to three years, six months, and twenty-one days of presidio correccional, with an order for restitution of the full $1,000 (credited with the $485 recovered) and subsidiary imprisonment in case of insolvency.