Title
Garcia vs. Court of Appeals
Case
G.R. No. 157171
Decision Date
Mar 14, 2006
A municipal canvassing chair convicted for intentionally reducing a senatorial candidate's votes by 5,077 in the 1995 elections, upheld by the Supreme Court as mala in se.
municipal election officer
guilty
conspiring
A

Case Summary (G.R. No. 157171)

Factual Background

Private complainant Aquilino Q. Pimentel, Jr. filed a complaint-affidavit alleging that during the May 8, 1995 elections the municipal canvass in Alaminos, Pangasinan showed a reduction in the votes credited to him. The information charged that votes totaling six thousand nine hundred ninety-eight in the Statements of Votes by precinct were reduced to one thousand nine hundred twenty-one in a Statement of Votes and Certificate of Canvass, a discrepancy alleged to be five thousand seventy-seven votes. The municipal canvassing procedure at trial was described as follows: after precinct tallies were sealed, the municipal board of canvassers, chaired by petitioner, received the Statements of Votes; petitioner read aloud figures from the precinct reports; Secretary Viray entered the figures into the Statements of Votes; accused Palisoc and de Vera operated electrical adding machines to produce subtotals and grand totals; machine tapes were handed to petitioner to read subtotals and grand totals which Viray then entered in the Statements of Votes and the Certificate of Canvass.

Trial Court Proceedings

An information dated March 30, 1998 charged petitioner and four others with violating Section 27(b) of Republic Act No. 6646 by decreasing the votes received by Senator Pimentel. The Regional Trial Court acquitted all accused for insufficiency of evidence except Arsenia B. Garcia, whom it found guilty beyond reasonable doubt of decreasing the votes and of a related violation under BP Blg. 881. The RTC sentenced petitioner to suffer imprisonment with a maximum of six years and, under the Indeterminate Sentence Law, a minimum penalty of six months; it also imposed disqualification from public office and deprivation of the right of suffrage, ordered cancellation of bail, and committed her to the Bureau of Correctional Institution for Women. The RTC decision is dated September 11, 2000.

Appeal to the Court of Appeals

Petitioner appealed to the Court of Appeals. The Court of Appeals affirmed the conviction but modified the minimum penalty by increasing it from six months to one year. The appellate court denied petitioner’s motion for reconsideration. The instant petition to the Supreme Court sought review of the Court of Appeals’ judgment.

Issues Presented on Review

The principal legal questions were whether a violation of Section 27(b) of Republic Act No. 6646 is a crime mala in se or mala prohibita, and whether good faith and lack of criminal intent could constitute a valid defense to the charge. Petitioner also assigned specific errors concerning the Court of Appeals’ factual inferences: that Secretary Viray merely relied on petitioner’s dictation and therefore could not be blamed; that the tabulators could not have decreased the votes because petitioner read the adding-machine tape; that petitioner did not produce the tapes at trial for fear they would be adverse to her; that petitioner, not the secretary, entered the reduced figure in the Certificate of Canvass; and that any reduction was not willful or intentional but rather inadvertent.

Parties' Contentions

Petitioner argued that the Court of Appeals based its judgment on speculation and conjecture rather than substantial evidence and that she lacked any motive to reduce the votes of private complainant. The People maintained that good faith is not a defense where the statute creates an offense by public policy, thus classifying the violation as mala prohibita, and that the evidence established petitioner’s criminal responsibility for decreasing the votes.

Legal Analysis on Mala in Se versus Mala Prohibita

The Court reviewed the distinction between mala in se and mala prohibita offenses, noting that acts inherently immoral are mala in se even when penalized by special law, and that criminal intent must be clearly established for such offenses. Conversely, mala prohibita offenses punish conduct because the law proscribes it for reasons of public policy and criminal intent is not necessary. The Court concluded that the acts forbidden by Section 27(b)—intentionally increasing or decreasing the votes of a candidate—are mala in se, because they are inherently malicious and intentionally injure the electorate’s will. Consequently, criminal intent was a required element, and whoever asserts good faith bore the burden of proving it. The Court cited authorities including Domalanta v. Commission on Elections, Ibasco v. Court of Appeals, and earlier jurisprudence on the presumption and burden related to criminal intent.

Findings of Fact and Application to Petitioner

The record established that petitioner admitted she read the grand total of one thousand nine hundred twenty-one and that Secretary Viray subsequently entered that figure in the Statement of Votes and the Certificate of Canvass. Petitioner likewise admitted preparing the Certificate of Canvass although that was not her assigned duty. The Court held that petitioner's act of preparing the Certificate of Canvass, despite not being required to do so, manifested an intention to perpetuate the erroneous entry. As chairman of the Municipal Board of Canvassers, petitioner had the duty to ensure accurate and authentic entries; her failure to exercise the requisite diligence warranted criminal sanction. The Court also observed that while a modest discrepancy of seventy-seven votes between competing totals could be attributed to inadvertence or fatigue, a reduction of approximately five thousand votes was substantial and could not be permitted to remain unchallenged.

Legal Conclusions a

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