G.R. No. L-21291 - Corliss vs. Manila Railroad Co.

Parties: Lauro G. Soriano, Jr. as Petitioner; The Honorable Sandiganbayan and the People of the Philippines as Respondents; private complainant Thomas N. Tan.
Original complaint: Tan was accused of qualified theft in a complaint lodged with the City Fiscal of Quezon City, docketed as I.S. No. 82-2964.
Assignment: The case was assigned to petitioner who was then an Assistant City Fiscal and detailed as Investigating Fiscal.

Demand and entrapment: During the preliminary investigation the petitioner allegedly demanded P4,000.00 from Tan as the price for dismissing the case; Tan reported the demand to the National Bureau of Investigation; an NBI entrapment followed.
Marked money and payment: Because Tan could only raise P2,000.00, the NBI supplied one-half of the amount; marked bills were used; petitioner allegedly received P2,000.00 in the entrapment operation.

Information filed: An information was filed with the Sandiganbayan in Criminal Case No. 7393 charging violation of Section 3, paragraph (b) of Republic Act No. 3019; it alleged that on or about March 21, 1983 petitioner, taking advantage of his official position as Investigating Fiscal in I.S. No. 82-2964, demanded P4,000.00 and actually received P2,000.00 to dismiss the case.
Sandiganbayan judgment: The Sandiganbayan found petitioner guilty beyond reasonable doubt of violating Sec. 3(b), R.A. No. 3019, and sentenced him to an indeterminate term of imprisonment from SIX (6) YEARS and ONE (1) MONTH to NINE (9) YEARS and ONE (1)...(Subscriber-Only)

Whether the preliminary investigation conducted by the petitioner constitutes a "contract or transaction" within the meaning of Section 3(b) of Republic Act No. 3019.

Whether, assuming the facts proved, the proper offense is Direct Bribery under Article 210 of the Revised Penal Code rather than a violation of Sec. 3(b), R.A. No. 3019....(Subscriber-Only)