Republic of the Philippines

Department of Justice
OFFICE OF THE CITY PROSECUTOR
Bacolod City
GONZAGA REALTY DEVELOPMENT
CORPORATION,
Complainant,
- versus -

I.S. No. __________________

GINA MARIE A. MIAG-AO,

Respondent.
x-------------------------------x
COMPLAINT-AFFIDAVIT
I, MARISSA M. SONDON, of legal age, Filipino, with office
address at 3rd Flr. St. Therese Bldg., Rizal St., Bacolod City, after being duly
sworn in accordance with law, hereby depose and state that:
1.
I am the Sales and Marketing Officer of GONZAGA REALTY
DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION (hereinafter referred to as GRDC or
the Corporation), a corporation duly organized and existing under and by
virtue of the laws of the Republic of the Philippines with principal address at
St. Therese Bldg., Rizal St., Bacolod City, which is the private complainant
in the above-entitled case. I have been authorized by GRDC to institute the
instant criminal complaint against Respondent GINA MARIE A. MIAGAO, as evidenced by the Secretarys Certificate hereto attached as Annex
A and made an integral part hereof, charging said respondent with the
crime of ESTAFA WITH ABUSE OF CONFIDENCE defined and
punished under Art. 315(1)(b) of the Revised Penal Code, thus:
Art. 315. Swindling (estafa). Any person who shall defraud
another by any of the means mentioned hereinbelow shall be punished
by:
xxx
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:
xxx
(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,

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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.xxx
2.
GRDC is engaged in the business of real estate development, and
is the developer of Marville Subdivision located at Barangay Granada,
Bacolod City.
3.
Respondent MIAG-AO is a Filipino, married, of legal age, and is a
resident of Block 6, Lot 17, East Homes 3, Brgy. Estefania, Bacolod City,
where she may be served summons and other processes of this Honorable
Office.
4.
Respondent MIAG-AO was hired by GRDC as Documentation and
Processing Clerk on February 1, 2015, and was holding this position at the
time material to this Complaint. She was separated from the Corporation on
November 24, 2015.
5.
As part of her duties as Documentation and Processing Clerk,
Respondent MIAG-AO was entrusted with the task of processing various
transactions related to the real estate business of GRDC, such as but not
limited to, the transfer of titles to properties sold by the Corporation before
the Register of Deeds, payment of taxes and fees before the Bureau of
Internal Revenue and the Local Assessors Office, payment of installation
fees for water and electrical utilities for the housing units sold by GRDC
with BACIWA and CENECO, and the like. In line with her work and in the
course of her employment with GRDC, Respondent MIAG-AO received in
trust from GRDC various amounts of cash on several occasions, under the
obligation and duty to deliver and pay such amounts to designated payees on
behalf of GRDC.
6.
On September 4, 2015, Respondent MIAG-AO received the
amount of P20,292.00 from GRDC, with the specific directive to pay the
said amount to BACIWA on behalf of GRDCs clients as installation fees for
water connection in the houses the clients purchased from GRDC at
Marville Subdivision. The disbursement was covered by GRDCs Check
Voucher No. 32857, which was signed by Respondent MIAG-AO to
document her receipt of the said sum from GRDC. A copy of Check Voucher
No. 32857 is hereto attached as Annex B.
7.
On the same date, Respondent MIAG-AO received an additional
amount of P13,200.00 from GRDC, with the specific directive to pay the
said amount to CENECO for the application for electrical connection of
several houses in Marville Subdivision purchased by certain buyers from
GRDC. The disbursement was covered by GRDCs Check Voucher No.
32858, which was signed by Respondent MIAG-AO to document her receipt

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of the said sum from GRDC. A copy of Check Voucher No. 32858 is hereto
attached as Annex C.
8.
On October 21, 2015, one of GRDCs clients, Ms. April Natiag,
complained to undersigned regarding the delay in the installation of water
and electric utilities in the house she purchased from GRDC, which in turn
delayed the move-in date of the said client. On the same day, Mr. Herbert
Jacinto, the construction contractor building the houses sold by GRDC also
informed the undersigned of complaints received from GRDCs clients
while he was at the subdivision regarding the delay in the move-in dates to
the houses purchased by said clients due to delay in the installation of water
and electric utilities.
9.
I inquired with Respondent MIAG-AO with respect to the status of
the applications for water and electrical connections with BACIWA and
CENECO. Respondent MIAG-AO claimed that she has already paid the
installation fees with BACIWA. With respect to CENECO, she claimed that
she left the amount of P13,200.00 to an unnamed employee of CENECO.
When I asked her for official or acknowledgment receipts, she could not
present any receipts. She instead assured me that she will follow up the
status of the installation with the said offices.
10.
However, due to persistent complaints of GRDCs clients
regarding the delay in the installation of water and electric connections in
the houses, I decided to follow up directly with BACIWA and CENECO.
11.
I first went to BACIWA, accompanied by Mr. Jacinto, who was
also concerned by the delay of the connections in the houses he was
contracted to build for Marville Subdivision, which delayed the move-in
dated of the buyers to the houses they purchased.
12.
I spoke to Mr. Jerald Gozon of BACIWA, who informed me that
no payment of installation fees was made by Respondent MIAG-AO to
BACIWA on behalf of GRDC for GRDCs clients.
13.
Alarmed by the discovery, I then personally went to CENECO,
where I verified that no payments were made by Respondent MIAG-AO to
CENECO on behalf of GRDC for the installation fees for electrical
connection of the new houses in Marville Subdivision.
14.
I confronted Respondent MIAG-AO about her failure to pay the
amounts she received in trust from GRDC to BACIWA and CENECO.
Respondent MIAG-AO denied having failed to pay the said amounts to
BACIWA and CENECO. However, when prompted to present the receipts,
Respondent MIAG-AO could not present any receipts. I informed
Respondent MIAG-AO that if BACIWA and CENECO issued official
receipts, such payments will appear in the computer database of the said

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companies. However, there is no record at all of such payments. With

BACIWA, Respondent MIAG-AO insisted that she has an official receipt,
she just had to look for the same. In the case of CENECO, she claimed that
she can get an acknowledgment receipt from the unnamed CENECO staff
who received the money from Respondent MIAG-AO.
15.
I also discovered that corporate funds were also disbursed to
Respondent MIAG-AO for the purpose of having the registration of GRDCs
company vehicle renewed on October 20, 2015. When Respondent MIAGAO was asked about this, she admitted that she still has not paid the same to
the appropriate government agency.
16.
I elevated the matter to the President of GRDC, Mr. Alexander J.
Gonzaga, who then ordered the companys internal auditor Ms. Cheryl May
A. Serisola to conduct an audit of all disbursements released to Respondent
MIAG-AO for the processing and documentation tasks that were entrusted
to her.
17.
Mr. Gonzaga sent Respondent MIAG-AO a Notice to Explain
dated October 27, 2015, personally handed by the undersigned to
Respondent MIAG-AO and received by her at the GRDC office on October
28, 2015. A copy of the Notice to Explain dated October 27, 2015 is hereto
attached as Annex D.
18.
The Notice to Explain dated October 27, 2015 included a formal
demand made upon MIAG-AO to return the amount of P37,071.06 she
received from GRDC which she did not pay to the designated payees in
accordance with the instructions given to her. The said amount included the
amount of P20,292.00 intended for BACIWA and P13,200.00 intended for
CENECO.
19.
On October 28, 2015, Respondent MIAG-AO attended a
conference with Mr. Gonzaga where Respondent MIAG-AO was given the
opportunity to explain her side as part of the on-going investigation of the
matter. Mr. Gonzaga reiterated the demand for Respondent MIAG-AO to
account for or return the money she received in trust from GRDC. MIAGAO maintained that she has receipts covering the payments but could not
present the same. When demand was made upon her by Mr. Gonzaga to
account for the money she received and turn over the said receipts,
Respondent MIAG-AO could not account for the same, and instead,
appealed for more time to produce the alleged receipts and to complete the
registration of the GRDCs vehicle.
20.
On October 30, 2015, Respondent MIAG-AO completed the
registration of GRDCs company vehicle. However, Respondent MIAG-AO
still failed to produce the alleged receipts as promised. Respondent MIAG-

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AO did not report to GRDC and was absent without leave from November 2
to November 9, 2015.
21.
On November 10, 2015, Respondent MIAG-AO reported for work
at the GRDC office. She was directed to prepare a status report on all
accounts she was handling for processing. She still could not account for the
money she received in trust from the Corporation and produce any receipts
for the corporate funds she claims to have paid already. She asked
permission from Mr. Gonzaga to leave early in the afternoon claiming to be
not feeling well.
22.
She did not report for work again from November 11, 2015 to
November 16, 2015. Meanwhile, partial audit results revealed that the sum
of P97,101.42 was received by Respondent MIAG-AO from GRDC in trust
for the purpose of paying the same to designated payees. The said amount
included the amount of P20,292.00 intended for BACIWA and P13,200.00
intended for CENECO. The partial audit results was prepared by Ms.
Serisola and checked by the undersigned.
23.
A memorandum dated November 16, 2015 containing a follow up
on the Notice to Explain dated October 27, 2015 and addressed to
Respondent MIAG-AO was signed by Mr. Gonzaga. Attached to the
memorandum was the partial audit results prepared by Ms. Serisola.
24.
On November 17, 2015, Respondent MIAG-AO still failed to
report for work. I was therefore constrained to deliver the memorandum and
partial audit results to the residence of Respondent MIAG-AO at East
Homes 3, Bacolod City, where I was accompanied by my co-employee,
Smaylen Segovia. Respondent MIAG-AO personally received from me the
memorandum dated November 16, 2015 together with the partial audit
results in the evening of November 17, 2015. Copies of the memorandum
dated November 16, 2015 and partial audit results prepared by Ms. Serisola
are hereto attached as Annexes E and F, respectively.
25.
Respondent MIAG-AO failed to report for work again from
November 18 to November 20, 2015. Despite her absence, I personally went
to her house on November 18, 19 and 20, 2015 to reiterate the demand for
her to account for the money entrusted to her by the Corporation by
producing the receipts of the payments she allegedly made for the
Corporation, or to return the money of the Corporation.
26.
By November 23, 2015, despite having been given numerous
opportunities and notwithstanding the repeated demands of the Corporation,
Respondnet MIAG-AO still refused to return to the office to account for the
funds entrusted to her by the Corporation. She was found by the
management of the Corporation to be guilty of serious misconduct, breach of
trust and dishonesty, necessitating her immediate dismissal from the

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Corporation. For this purpose, a notice of dismissal dated November 23,

2015 was signed by Mr. Gonzaga. She was instructed to report to the office
so that the results of the investigation may be relayed to her and the notice of
dismissal may be given to her in person.
27.
Respondent MIAG-AO reported to the GRDC office on November
24, 2015. Before the notice of dismissal was served upon MIAG-AO, she
was given a final opportunity by Mr. Gonzaga to account for the moneys she
received in trust for the Corporation. Respondent MIAG-AO then claimed
that she has the pertinent documents at her house. I, together with Ms.
Segovia, accompanied Respondent MIAG-AO and we left the office to go to
her house. When we got to her house, her house was locked with nobody
inside, and she claimed that she could not get in because she had no keys to
her house. I reported her actions to Mr. Gonzaga and the obvious run-about
she was giving the Corporation. Upon the instructions of Mr. Gonzaga, I
served the notice of dismissal upon Respondent MIAG-AO, who personally
received the same. A copy of the notice of dismissal dated November 23,
2015 is hereto attached as Annex G.
28.
Even after her termination, GRDC still gave her an opportunity to
account for the moneys entrusted to her by the Corporation, or to make
arrangements for repayment if she has misappropriated the same in
voluntary conciliation proceedings before the Office of Barangay Estefania.
Such efforts were futile as MIAG-AO still failed to account for or return the
money of the Corporation despite repeated demands and being given
numerous opportunities to do so.
29.
All the elements of Estafa under Article 315, paragraph 1(b) of the
Revised Penal Code are evident from Respondent MIAG-AOs actions, to
wit:
1.
That money, goods or other personal properties are 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;
2.
That there is a misappropriation or conversion of such
money or property by the offender or denial on his part of such
receipt;
3.
That such misappropriation or conversion or denial is to the
prejudice of another; and
4.
offender.

That there is a demand made by the offended party on the

30.
Respondent Miag-ao acknowledged that she received the amounts
of (1) P20,292.00 and (2) P13,200.00, in trust from private complainant

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GRDC, under the obligation and duty to deliver and pay the same to
designated payees.
31.
Respondent MIAG-AO misappropriated the afore-mentioned
amounts. The failure to account upon demand, for funds or property held in
trust, is circumstantial evidence of misappropriation. (Aigle vs. People of
the Philippines, G.R. No. 174181, June 27, 2012)
32.
Such misappropriation prejudiced private complainant GRDC,
who was constrained to disburse additional funds to pay the amounts that
should have been paid with the corporate funds entrusted to Respondent
MIAG-AO.
33.
Several demands were made by private complainant GRDC upon
the person of Respondent MIAG-AO. Despite the repeated demands,
Respondent MIAG-AO persistently refuses and fails to return or account for
the amounts received in trust from GRDC, to the damage and prejudice of
GRDC.
34.
The filing of this criminal complaint is without prejudice to the
right of private complainant GRDC to file separate criminal complaints for
the other amounts received in trust by Respondent MIAG-AO from GRDC
determined to have been misappropriated by Respondent MIAG-AO.
35.
From the foregoing, Respondent MIAG-AO has clearly committed
TWO (2) counts of estafa with abuse of confidence defined and punished
under Art. 315(1)(b) of the Revised Penal Code against private complainant
GRDC and should therefore be held for trial.
IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto fixed my signature on
___________________ in _______________________.

MARISSA M. SONDON
CERTIFICATION

SUBSCRIBED AND SWORN TO before me this __ day of

______________, 2016 in Bacolod City.
I HEREBY CERTIFY that I have personally examined the affiant and
I am satisfied that she has voluntarily executed this Complaint-Affidavit and
has understood the contents thereof of his own personal knowledge.

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Investigating Prosecutor