Title
Gutib vs. Court of Appeals
Case
G.R. No. 131209
Decision Date
Aug 13, 1999
Drivers and cashier accused of conspiring to steal diesel fuel via misuse of purchase orders; Supreme Court acquitted Gutib due to insufficient evidence.
demurrer to evidence
dismissal of case
grave abuse of discretion
A

Case Summary (G.R. No. 131209)

Factual Background

ERS operated hauling services within the province of Cebu. Its fuel requirements were obtained at Honeywest, among other gasoline stations. The system of procurement relied on ERS purchase orders issued by ERS owners to the drivers. When a driver needed to refuel, the driver presented the relevant ERS PO to petitioner Gutib, the cashier of Honeywest, who in turn instructed the gasoline attendant to load diesel fuel into the driver’s truck tank corresponding to the amount stated in the PO.

The spouses Sy accused petitioner Gutib of conniving with truck drivers in short-selling the fuel. They alleged that on several occasions Gutib induced drivers to underfill their fuel tanks by giving them goodwill money, and that unused POs were exchanged for cash. The prosecution theory in effect was that diesel fuel represented by the POs was not fully loaded into the trucks, and that petitioner functioned as the cashier who enabled the short-filling and PO-for-cash scheme.

Prosecutorial Proceedings and Discharge of Accused as State Witnesses

During reinvestigation, the public prosecutor recommended that five accused drivers—Godofredo Jayme, Abraham Felix, Carlos Tisoy, Antonio Rosales, and Paulino Hortelano—be discharged from the Information so they could serve as state witnesses against the remaining accused Arcangel Gutib and Rodolfo Caballes, because the prosecution evidence was “very much insufficient to secure a conviction.” The presiding judge initially approved the recommendation and discharged the five drivers. After that, motions for inhibition were filed due to alleged relationships between trial judges and private complainants, causing multiple reassignments of the case among RTC branches.

Trial Court Proceedings: Demurrers and Partial Dismissal

After the prosecution presented its evidence, petitioner Gutib and co-accused Caballes filed separate demurrers to evidence with prior leave of court. Private complainants opposed petitioner Gutib’s demurrer but did not contest the demurrer filed by Caballes.

On 26 April 1996, the RTC denied Gutib’s demurrer for lack of factual and legal basis, but it granted Caballes’s demurrer and dismissed the case against Caballes for “gross insufficiency of evidence.” Petitioner Gutib moved for inhibition, but the case proceeded and was later assigned to another RTC branch and judge after continued motions and reassignments. Petitioner received notice that his case was raffled to RTC-Br. 21 and filed his motion for reconsideration of the denial, which the new judge denied.

Court of Appeals Proceedings on Certiorari

Petitioner then elevated the denial to the Court of Appeals through a petition for certiorari under Rule 65. On 30 June 1997, the Court of Appeals dismissed the petition for lack of merit, relying on the consistent ruling that certiorari does not lie to challenge interlocutory orders denying motions to dismiss via demurrer to evidence. It instructed that the proper remedy was for the accused to present evidence, await judgment, and then appeal if adverse.

The Court of Appeals later denied reconsideration on 28 October 1997.

Supreme Court Review: Grounds and Issues

Petitioner filed a petition for review on the denial of his certiorari petition. The Supreme Court denied the petition and the motion for reconsideration in earlier resolutions. Still, petitioner persisted and filed a subsequent second motion for reconsideration on 19 June 1998, after which the Supreme Court required respondents, including the People of the Philippines through the Solicitor General, to comment.

The Court framed the issues as: whether the trial court committed grave abuse of discretion amounting to lack or excess of jurisdiction in denying petitioner’s demurrer to the evidence; and whether certiorari was the proper remedy to question the denial of the demurrer.

Legal Framework on Demurrer to Evidence

The Supreme Court revisited the nature and function of a demurrer to evidence as an objection that the evidence presented by the adverse party is insufficient in point of law, whether true or not, to make out a case or sustain the issue. The Court emphasized that the party demurring challenged the sufficiency of the whole evidence to sustain a verdict. In evaluating a demurrer, the court was required to ascertain whether there was competent or sufficient evidence to sustain the indictment or a verdict of guilt.

The Court held that, in passing upon sufficiency, the trial court must determine whether the prosecution’s evidence was adequate to prove the commission of the crime and the accused’s precise degree of participation. It stressed that it was not enough that state witnesses implicated the accused as a mastermind; the prosecution still had the burden to sufficiently prove the existence of the crime of qualified theft, including that fuel had actually been pilfered in the manner alleged and that the accused amassed the value claimed in the Information.

The Supreme Court’s Reassessment of the Prosecution Evidence

The Supreme Court conducted a second hard look at the record and concluded that the prosecution evidence was “grossly insufficient” to support petitioner’s guilt. It found that the five discharged witnesses did not overcome the inherent weakness of the prosecution case. On the contrary, their testimonies allegedly disclosed exculpatory facts that supported the grant of the demurrer.

First, the Court noted testimony from Filomena Sy, an ERS owner and complainant, regarding how POs were computed and limited. She testified that ERS owners determined the number of liters to appear on each PO based on driving needs and distance. She admitted she was not an expert but pointed to estimates and certifications. The Court described this testimony as undermining the theft allegation by showing that the fuel quantities in POs were tied to distance and trip limitations rather than being a free-flowing basis for pilferage.

Second, the Court highlighted testimony from Antonio Rosales, one of the discharged witnesses. He allegedly corroborated that ERS gave drivers a limit of twenty (20) liters per trip, sufficient to negotiate hauling within Mandaue City only. He also testified that the POs were issued only when there were hauling assignments and that POs were tied to the drivers’ actual hauling needs.

Third, the Court relied on testimony from Godofredo Jayme that each PO was good for twenty (20) liters, allegedly enough for two (2) hauling trips. Jayme testified that before another PO could be issued, drivers had to report that they had already completed the two trips, and that there was never an instance when he ran out of fuel and failed to perform a hauling assignment.

Fourth, the Court cited testimony from Carlos Tisoy, another discharged witness, who stated that a PO was good only for one (1) trip and that another PO was required for a second trip. He further testified that there was never any complaint from customers that ERS failed to deliver because of lack of fuel.

Why Pilferage and the Alleged Theft Were Deemed Unproven

From these testimonies, the Court reasoned that the possibility of short-filling and/or exchanging POs for cash was remote. It explained that the PO quantities were allegedly sufficient only for a particular trip or trips, and that strict PO issuance procedures required drivers to report completion of prior assignments before receiving additional POs. The Court found it significant that the witnesses asserted that drivers never ran out of fuel, and that no evidence was presented to show a mismatch between POs issued and hauling assignments completed.

The Court further considered that ERS could have detected anomalies by verifying ERS records to determine whether the number of completed trips matched the number of POs issued for a given period. It found the prosecution lacking in proof that such mismatch existed. It also observed that private complainants, as prudent businessmen, would presumably have protected their interests against theft through inspection, cross-checking with gasoline stations, and indication in the POs of the specific gas station for exchange to reduce pilferage risk.

The Court treated Filomena Sy’s admissions on business performance as additional contextual evidence against the prosecution theory. It noted that despite the alleged pilferage, ERS steadily gained net profits from 1988 to 1992, with profits ranging from more than P300,000.00 in 1988 to more than P400,000.00 in 1992. It further noted the growth of ERS’s fleet from nine (9) trucks in 1983 to thirty-two (32) trucks with twenty-eight (28) drivers by 1990. In the Court’s view, these figures supported the conclusion that ERS had not been seriously subjected to the substantial theft posited by the Information.

Grave Abuse of Discretion in Denial of the Demurrer

The Supreme Court held that the trial court committed grave abuse of discretion by refusing to weigh the prosecution evidence against petitioner and by dismissing petitioner’s demurrer arguments on the general plane that they involved credibility, inconsistencies, and evaluation of weight. The Supreme Court stated that the trial court’s duty in a demurrer was to assess sufficiency. It concluded that it was useless and wasteful to require p

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