THIRD DIVISION
[G.R. No. 234814. January 31, 2018.]
MERAFLOR YAP ARRIOLA, petitioner,vs. PEOPLE OF THE PHILIPPINES, respondent.
NOTICE
Sirs/Mesdames :
Please take notice that the Court, Third Division, issued a Resolution datedJanuary 31, 2018, which reads as follows: HTcADC
"G.R. No. 234814 (Meraflor Yap Arriola v. People of the Philippines). — The Court DIRECTS the parties or their respective counsel to INDICATE their contact details in all papers and pleadings to be filed with this Court pursuant to A.M. No. 07-6-5-SC (En Banc Resolution dated July 10, 2007).
Considering the allegations, issues and arguments presented by the petitioner in his petition for review on certiorari, the Court resolves to DENY the petition for failure to sufficiently show that the Court of Appeals (CA) committed any reversible error in its assailed Decision 1 dated December 20, 2016 and Resolution 2 dated August 31, 2017 in CA G.R. CEB-CR No. 01853 as to warrant the exercise of the Court's appellate jurisdiction.
However, the Court deems it proper to modify the penalty imposed by the CA to conform to the recent amendments to the Revised Penal Code (RPC) by virtue of Republic Act No. 10951 3 which states that:
Section 85. Article 315 of the same Act, as amended by Republic Act No. 4885, Presidential Decree No. 1689, and Presidential Decree No. 818, is hereby further amended to read as follows:
"Art. 315. Swindling (estafa). — Any person who shall defraud another by any of the means mentioned herein below shall be punished by:
"xxx xxx xxx
"3rd. The penalty of arresto mayor in its maximum period to prisión correccional in its minimum period, if such amount is over forty thousand pesos (P40,000) but does not exceed one million two hundred thousand pesos (P1,200,000).
"4th. By arresto mayor in its medium and maximum periods, if such amount does not exceed Forty thousand pesos (P40,000): Provided, That in the four cases mentioned, the fraud be committed by any of the following means:
"1. With unfaithfulness or abuse of confidence, namely:
"(a) altering the substance, quantity, or quality of anything of value which the offender shall deliver by virtue of an obligation to do so, even though such obligation be based on an immoral or illegal consideration.
"(b) By misappropriating or converting, to the prejudice of another, money, goods, or any other personal property received by the offender in trust or on commission, or for administration, or under any other obligation involving the duty to make delivery of or to return the same, even though such obligation be totally or partially guaranteed by a bond; or by denying having received such money, goods, or other property.
"(c) By taking undue advantage of the signature of the offended party in blank, and by writing any document above such signature in blank, to the prejudice of the offended party or any third person.
xxx xxx xxx" 4
Considering that the value subject of the case amounts to One Hundred Twenty-Two Thousand Pesos (P122,000.00) which is more than Forty Thousand Pesos (P40,000.00) and less than One Million Pesos (P1,000,000.00), the penalty should be arresto mayor, in its maximum period, to prisión correccional, in its minimum period. Applying the Indeterminate Sentence Law, the penalty next lower in degree is arresto mayor in its minimum and medium periods. Thus, the minimum term of the indeterminate penalty should be anywhere from one (1) month to four (4) months. 5
WHEREFORE, the Decision dated December 20, 2016 and Resolution dated August 31, 2017 of the Court of Appeals in CA G.R. CEB-CR No. 01853 is AFFIRMED with MODIFICATION that petitioner is sentenced to an indeterminate penalty of four (4) months of arresto mayor, as minimum, to one (1) year and eight (8) months of prision correccional, as maximum. (Martires, J., on official business) aScITE
SO ORDERED."
Very truly yours,
(SGD.) WILFREDO V. LAPITANDivision Clerk of Court
Footnotes
1. Penned by Associate Justice Geraldine C. Fiel-Macaraig, with Associate Justices Edgardo L. Delos Santos and Edward B. Contreras, concurring; rollo, pp. 18-35.
2.Id. at 44-46.
3. An Act Adjusting the Amount or the Value of Property and Damage on Which a Penalty is Based and the Fines Imposed under the Revised Penal Code, Amending for the Purpose Act No. 3815, otherwise known as "The Revised Penal Code," as Amended.
4.Id.
5.Id.