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ALEJANDRO JAVIER vs. People

Facts: Alejandro Javier ( petitioner-appellant) was a sales agent of German and Co., Ltd.
He was tasked to prepare purchase orders of the merchandise sold by him, subject to the
approval of the manager, and collection of the sale was entrusted to him. Sometime later
the company management discovered that there was a big outstanding and uncollected
account and that some of the persons whose names appeared in the invoice did not live in
the address specified, or if they were, they pretended ignorance of any sales made to
them. The manager of the company compiled a list of all the sales made by petitioner-
appellant, gave them to Atty. Pedro France (Atty Franco) and the later showed it to
Javier. Upon request of Atty. Franco, Javier indicated the customers who were fictitious
and those who were not. In a written confession, petitioner-appellant admitted that he
misappropriated P12,052.57, by means of fictitious orders. Petitioner-appellant was given
the chance to pay the company the sum of P50.00 monthly. However, he only made 4
complete payments there being a balance of P11,990.57. Petitioner-appellant was
sentenced to an indeterminate term of one year, eight months, and twenty one days to five
years, five months and eleven days of prision correctional and to indemnify the offended
party.
Petitioner-appellant contends that since he was able to make partial payments amounting
to P62.00 of the P12, 052.57, the balance should be the basis of determining the penalty.
Issue: Whether the case falls under the second paragraph of article 315 because the
amount does not exceed P 12,000.00.
Ruling: No. The court held that there is no merit to petitioner-appellants contention. It is
a well-settled rule in jurisprudence that payment made subsequent to the commission of
the crime of estafa does not alter the nature of the crime committed nor does it relieve
defendant from the penalty prescribed by law.