Case Digest (G.R. No. 8645)
Facts:
The United States v. Te Tong (alias Tunga), G.R. No. 8645. December 29, 1913, the Supreme Court En Banc, Moreland, J., writing for the Court. The United States was the plaintiff and appellee; Te Tong (alias Tunga) was the defendant and appellant.
On August 28, 1912, A. J. Robertson, the comandante (a police official) of the Province of Cebu, and his force surprised a jueteng gambling game and arrested several Chinese participants, including Yap Shut and Te Tong; officers seized books and other gambling paraphernalia and placed them under Robertson’s personal supervision in an iron safe in his office. On the night of August 30 an unidentified Chinese man spoke with Robertson’s cook, indicating that certain Chinese interested in the seized books wished to remove and substitute them; Robertson agreed that substitution could be made for an agreed payment. The unknown man left and returned on September 1 identified as Te Tong.
Before the meeting Robertson had secreted two policemen so they could overhear and witness the transaction. Robertson opened the safe and produced the seized books; Te Tong examined and selected two large books that were damaging to his case and proffered other books similar in appearance as substitutes. When Robertson demanded payment, Te Tong produced and handed Robertson a roll of bills amounting to P500. As Te Tong was leaving, Robertson summoned the hidden policemen, who came forward and arrested him. The P500 tendered was seized and later declared confiscated.
Te Tong was tried before the Court of First Instance of Cebu, convicted of attempted bribery, fined 6,000 pesetas and an additional 750 pesetas (with subsidiary imprisonment in case of insolvency), and the P500 offered as a bribe was declared confiscated, with costs. Te Tong appealed to the Supreme Court. The sole ...(Pro-only)
Issues:
- Was the offense committed by Te Tong properly characterized as attempted bribery, rather than frustrated or consummated bribe...(Pro-only)
Ruling:
- (Pro-only)
Ratio:
- (Pro-only)
Doctrine:
- (Pro-only)