G.R. No. 147182 - EVELYN M. RELUCIO, VS. CIVIL SERVICE COMMISSION AND COURT OF APPEALS.D E C I S I O N - Supreme Court E-Library

Ruling

WHEREFORE, Evelyn M. Relucio is hereby found guilty of Dishonesty and Falsification of Official Documents. Accordingly, she is meted the penalty of dismissal from service with all the accessory penalties. Let a copy of this Resolution be furnished the Office of the Ombudsman for whatever criminal action it may take under the premises. [10] On November 24, 1999, the CSC denied petitioners motion for reconsideration in its Resolution No. 992599. [11] On May 29, 2000, petitioner filed with the Court of Appeals a petition for certiorari under Rule 65, contending that the CSC gravely abused its discretion in issuing the assailed resolutions. On September 20, 2000, the Court of Appeals rendered a decision dismissing the petition on both procedural and substantive grounds. It ruled that the proper remedy is a petition for review under Rule 43, and not a petition for certiorari under Rule 65. It further held that the CSC committed no abuse of discretion in finding petitioner guilty of dishonesty and falsification considering that the CSC based its decision on the Report of the PVAO that Alberto Mansueto, Jr., whom petitioner represented to be a veteran, was not in the list of the confirmed and recognized World War II veterans. Petitioner filed a motion for reconsideration which was denied on February 6, 2001. [12] Hence, the instant petition for review. Meanwhile, on January 10, 2001, the Military Service Board, Department of National Defense, confirmed the military services of Alberto Mansueto, Jr., and conferred upon him full military veteran status. [13] The petition is impressed with merit. Under Section 23, Rule XIV, of the Omnibus Rules Implementing the provisions of Book V, of E.O. NO. 292, dishonesty and falsification of official document are grave offenses punishable with dismissal from service. Dishonesty connotes a disposition to lie, cheat or defraud. [14] On the other hand, the elements of falsification are as follows: (a) the offender makes in a documents statements in a narration of facts; (b) the offender has a legal obligation to disclose the truth of the facts narrated; (c) the facts narrated by the offender are absolutely false; and, (d) the perversion of truth in the narration of facts was made with the wrongful intent of injuring a third person. [15] The rule is that there can be no conviction for falsification of a public document if the acts of the accused are consistent with good faith... Thus, the maxim, actus non facit reum, nisi mens sit rea a crime is not committed if the mind of the person performing the act complained of be innocent. [16] In the case at bar, petitioner was undoubtedly in good faith when she claimed that she was a daughter of a World War II veteran. Aware that her fathers veteran status was not yet confirmed, she submitted affidavits of the superiors and contemporaries in the military of her father to prove that he indeed served during World War II. In fact, on the basis of said affidavits, the PVAO rec