G.R. Nos. 52341-46 - DELIA PREAGIDO AND ULRICO BOLOTAULO, VS. THE SANDIGANBAYAN AND THE PEOPLE OF THE PHILIPPINES.D E C I S I O N - Supreme Court E-Library

Ruling

Accordingly, we hold that damage to the extent of the value of said short-delivery was sustained. Considering that it is undeniable that the damage came about thru the deceitful medium of the multiple falsifications here found to have been perpetrated, it is ineluctably clear that said falsifications were the means to the perpetration of a crime of estafa. As correctly formulated in the Informations herein, the crime committed in each of the cases at bar is estafa thru falsification of public documents. This ushers the Court to the determination of the extent of the damage caused to the Government. On this score, the evidence bears looking into. Restituto Castro, testifying for the People, detailed the volume of deliveries made to various sections of the roads and bridge approaches covered by the projects here involved based on his counting of truckloads of anapog extracted from the Belderol Co and Picmao quarries and brought to the restoration sites. On the other hand, Assistant Provincial Engineer Sarmiento also made documented estimates of the volume of anapog delivered and significantly, enough, even after reckoning with pertinent factors bearing on the matter-including the time lapse between the date of spreading and the date of inspection, the effect of erosion, and a shrinkage factor of 20% and 30% as the case may be- came up with figures higher than those arrived at by Castro. So much so that, giving the defense the benefit of the doubt, the Court elects to go by the figures furnished by Engineer Sarmiento as bases for reckoning the damage caused. For this purpose, the amount to be considered as starting point should be the face value of the respective checks actually paid to accused Tiu, that is to say, deducting the amount paid to the City Treasurer for Mining Fees. And, the value of anapog delivered should be taken at the price it was supposed to have been sold to the Government, that is P16.00 per cubic meter. On this (sic) bases, the damage may be computed as follows - Case No. Amount Paid Delivery Volume Value of Delivery DAMAGE 195- P47,637.75 566- P9,056.00- P 38,581.75 196- 47,636.25 12- 192.00- 47,444.25 197- 47,636.25 624- 9,984.00- 37,652.25 198- 47,637.75 none- none- 47,637.75 199- 47,637.75 1,496- 23,936.00- 23,701.75 200- 47,636.25 106- 1,696.00- 45,940.25 P240,958.00 [25] It bears stressing that the fraudulent issuances of the LAAs, SACDCs, GVs and its supporting documents and the journal vouchers and short deliveries are now settled issues. As we have earlier stated, we upheld the findings of the Sandiganbayan in four petitions brought to us by the four co-accused of herein petitioners which involved the same decision of the Sandiganbayan in Criminal Case Nos. 195 to 200 covering the same transactions. [26] Thus, the only issue now is whether the Sandiganbayan is correct in finding petitioner Bolotaulo guilty of conspiracy in committing the crime charged. Petitioner Bolotaulo was convicted for his signature in the RSEs, i