Beradio v.

Court of Appeals
G.R. Nos. L-49483-86 March 30, 1981

Facts
: Beradio is a lady-lawyer appointed as an election registrar stationed in
Rosales,Pangasinan as Chief of Office. With the permission of COMELEC, she appeared as
counsel forher cousins and cousins-in-law in the case before the Court of
Agrarian Relations which was just about two meters from her office. Whenever
she appeared as counsel, she would stay in thecourt for only a short time, the longest
of which is 45 minutes. However, in her daily timerecord, she stated that she worked from
8:00 am to 12:00 nn, and from 1:00 pm to 5:00 pm.
Issue
: Whether Beradio is guilty of falsification of public documents.
Held
: No. There are three categories of pubic officers which are exempt from
requirements ofkeeping and submitting the daily time records. These are: (1) Presidential
appointees; (2) chiefsand assistant chiefs of agencies; and (3) officers in the three
branches of the government.Beradio as Chief of Office and exercising
supervision over four subordinate employees wouldfall under the third category.
However, assuming Beradio is under legal obligation to submitthe daily time records, the
false entries did not constitute falsification for having been madewith no malice
or deliberate intent. The brief absences of Beradio could be absorbed within
theallowed coffee breaks. Besides, her brief absences did not in any way
interfere with her officialduties.