G.R. NO. 145229 - ROMEO L. DAVALOS, SR., VS. PEOPLE OF THE PHILIPPINES.D E C I S I O N - Supreme Court E-Library

Ruling

WHEREFORE, judgment is hereby rendered finding accused ROMEO L. DAVALOS, SR. GUILTY of the crime of malversation of public funds defined and penalized under Article 217 of the Revised Penal Code and, taking into account the existence of a mitigating circumstance, sentencing the said accused to: (a) suffer an indeterminate sentence of imprisonment of ten (10) years and one (1) day of prision mayor, as minimum, to fourteen (14) years, eight (8) months and one (1) day of reclusion temporal , as maximum; (b) suffer all the appropriate accessory penalties consequent thereto, including perpetual special disqualification; (c) pay a fine of Eighteen Thousand (P18,000) ; and (d) pay the costs. Hence, this petition. The crime of malversation of public funds is defined and penalized under Article 217 of the Revised Penal Code, viz : ART. 217. Malversation of public funds or property. - Presumption of malversation. - Any public officer who, by reason of the duties of his office, is accountable for public funds or property, shall appropriate the same, or shall take or misappropriate or shall consent, or through abandonment or negligence, shall permit any other person to take such public funds or property, wholly or partially, or shall otherwise be guilty of the misappropriation of malversation of such funds or property, shall suffer: x x x x x x x x x The failure of a public officer to have duly forthcoming any public funds or property with which he is chargeable, upon demand by any duly authorized officer, shall be prima facie evidence that he has put such missing fund or property to personal uses. The elements essential for the conviction of an accused under the above penal provision are: That the offender is a public officer; That he has the custody or control of funds or property by reason of the duties of his office; That the funds or property are public funds or property for which he is accountable; and That he appropriated, took, misappropriated or consented or through abandonment or negligence, permitted another person to take them. There can hardly be no dispute about the presence of the first three elements. Petitioner is a public officer occupying the position of a supply officer at the Office of the Provincial Engineer of Marinduque. In that capacity, he receives money or property belonging to the provincial government for which he is bound to account. It is the last element, i.e., whether or not petitioner really has misappropriated public funds, where the instant petition focuses itself on. In the crime of malversation, all that is necessary for conviction is sufficient proof that the accountable officer had received public funds, that he did not have them in his possession when demand therefor was made, and that he could not satisfactorily explain his failure to do so. Direct evidence of personal misappropriation by the accused is hardly necessary [16] as long as the accused cannot explain satisfactorily the shortage in his accounts. In convict