Republic of the Philippines

Department of Justice
OFFICE OF THE CITY PROSECUTOR
Binangonan, Rizal

________________,
represented by _____________, I.S. No. _______________
Complainant, For: Qualified Theft
versus
_________________,
Respondent.
x ----------------------------------------------------x

COMPLAINT-AFFIDAVIT
I, ____________, of legal age, Filipino and with office address at
____________, after having been duly sworn in accordance with law, do
hereby depose and state that:
1. I am the ____________ and the Authorized Representative of
__________, a Corporation duly organized and existing under the law of the
Philippines, with principal business address at _______________.
2. Respondent _________, (“Esguerra” for brevity) is of legal age, Filipino,
and with residence at __________, where she may be served with the
subpoena and other processes of this Honorable Office. She is the former
cashier and currently the branch manager of _________, Binangonan
branch.
3. Respondent ________________. (“__” for brevity), is of legal age,
Filipino, and with residence at ______________ where he may be served
with the subpoena and other processes of this Honorable Office. He is an
external collector of Robinsons Bank employed by Work with US.
4. Respondent __________ (“_________” for brevity), is of legal age,
Filipino, and with residence at _______________ where he may be served
with the subpoena and other processes of this Honorable Office.
Respondents should be held criminally liable for
Qualified Theft under Article 310 in relation to Article 308
of the Revised Penal Code. 1
5. Respondents are criminally liable for Qualified Theft under Article 310 of
the Revised Penal Code, in relation to Article 308, for taking, with intent to
gain, with grave abuse of confidence and without the consent of ___, various
sums of money from Complainant in the total amount of PESOS: SIX
HUNDRED THIRTYEIGHT THOUSAND NINE HUNDRED SIXTY-EIGHT AND
94/100 (Php638,968.94).

Articles 308 and 310 of the Revised Penal Code states thus:
 “Article 308. Who are liable for theft. - Theft is committed
by any person who, with intent to gain but without violence
against or intimidation of persons nor force upon things,
shall take personal property of another without the latter's
consent.” (Emphasis supplied)
“Article 310. Qualified Theft. — The crime of theft shall be
punished by the penalties next higher in degree than those
respectively specified in the next preceding article, if
committed by a domestic servant, or with grave abuse of
confidence, or if the property stolen is large cattle or
consists of coconuts, or fish taken from a fishpond or
fishery, or if the property is taken on the occasion of fire,
earthquake, typhoon, volcanic eruption, or any other
calamity, vehicular accident or civil disturbance.” (Emphasis
supplied)
6. Respondents _______ should be charged with the crime of Qualified Theft
committed as follows: “ .” Respondents unlawfully took substantial amounts
of money from Complainant ____ and used it for their personal benefit.
7. On ___________, ____ entered into a Dealership Arrangement
Agreement with ___ wherein __ Bank will finance the motorcycle loans of
the motorcycle buyers of ___ Bikes. On the other hand, ____ agreed to
collect and remit the monthly amortizations of the clients/borrowers on
behalf of ____ through payments in any of its branches or through field
collectors. ____ further agreed to be liable to ____ for any loss or breach of
its contractual obligations and warranties, including non-remittance,
pursuant to the Agreement. A copy of the Dealership Arrangement
Agreement dated ________is attached hereto as Annex “C” and made an
integral part hereof.
8. On March 5, 2015, Respondent ____ was initially hired by ____as cashier
of its Binangonan Branch and she occupied said position until April 3, 2018.

It was the duty of Respondent as cashier, among others, to receive cash and
check deposits and loan payments, cash checks and process withdrawals.
After receiving the monthly amortization payments from the clients, she
encodes the payment details in ____ system. The branch manager then
verifies the payment details encoded by the cashier in the system. A copy of
the Job Description of Respondent ___ is attached hereto as Annex “D” and
made an integral part hereof.
9. On July 16, 2018, Respondent ____ was promoted to Manager but she
still continued to perform cashier/teller duties.
10. Respondent ___ was initially hired by ___ as Marketing Assistant on
January 11, 2016 and was later hired by ___ as external field collector and
credit investigator on October 27, 2017. Respondent ___ was also hired by
___ as external collector/credit investigator on April 10, 2017. It was their
duty as field collectors to follow up, collect and receive cash payments from
clients/borrowers of ___. Upon receipt of the payments from the clients,
they issue a receipt to the client indicating the date of payment and the
month the amortization is applied to. They then encode the payment
transaction details to the ___ system. Thereafter, they turn over the cash
payments to the cashier of ___, herein Respondent ___. The cashier in turn
verifies the amount she receives from the collectors with the information
encoded by the collectors in the ____ system. Copies of the Job Descriptions
of Respondent ___ are attached hereto as Annexes “E” and “F” and made
integral parts hereof.
11. On August 11, 2018, ___, Cashier of ___, Binangonan branch, and
____, Receptionist of ___, Binangonan branch, went to the main office of
____ in Cubao, Quezon City and reported to ___ the alleged
misappropriation of cash collections, forgeries of agent’s signature and
connivance among Respondents ___ then immediately reported the matter
to me.
12. Based on the report of Ms. __, I went to ___ Binangonan Branch on
August 13, 2018 together with the Internal Audit Group of ___ composed of
__ to conduct a surprise audit checking.
13. The surprise audit revealed a partial finding of missing cash funds and
collections in the total amount of Six Hundred Thirty-Eight Thousand Nine
Hundred Sixty-Eight Pesos and 94/100 (Php638,968.94). A copy of the
Partial Report dated September 20, 2018 is hereto attached and made
integral part hereof as Annex “G”. Below is a table of the partial findings
which shows the amounts taken/unremitted by Respondents:

13.1. Upon examination of the receipts and the recorded transactions

in __, there were one hundred nine (109) receipts representing clients’
monthly amortization payments in the total amount of Php570,130.00
that were not reported and unremitted by Respondent __. It was
also revealed that there were sixteen (16) unremitted monthly
amortizations in the total amount of Php61,156.00. A copy of the
M___ record is hereto attached and made integral part hereof as
Annex “H”.
13.1.1. Seventy (70) unreported receipts representing the total
amount of Php399,907.00 were prepared and signed by
Respondent ___. Copies of the Receipts are hereto
attached and made integral parts hereof as Annexes “I” to
“I-69”.
13.1.2. Thirty-four (34) unreported receipts representing the
total amount of Php147,376.00 were prepared and signed
by ___. Copies of the Receipts are hereto attached and made
integral parts hereof as Annexes “J” to “J-33”.
13.1.3. Two (2) Receipts representing the total amount of
Php10,612.00 were prepared and signed by Respondent
__. Copies of the Receipts are hereto attached and made
integral parts hereof as Annexes “K” to “K-1”.
 13.1.4. Two (2) Receipts representing the total amount of
Php9,799.00 were prepared and signed by Respondent
___. Copies of the Receipts are hereto attached and made
integral parts hereof as Annexes “L” to “L-1”.
13.1.5. One (1) Receipt representing the total amount of
Php2,436.00 was prepared and signed by Respondent
________. A copy of the Receipt is hereto attached and made integral
part hereof as Annex “M”.
13.1.6. Ms. ___, encoded in ___, under the authorization and
instruction of Respondent ___, a set of receipts
numbered 3019 to 3034 representing payments in the total
amount of Php61,156.00. However, the payments were not
remitted to the Bank. Copies of the Receipts No. 3019 to 3034
are hereto attached and made integral parts hereof as
Annexes “N” to “N- 15”.
13.1.7.Upon field verification with the clients’ copies of the
receipts, Receipts No. 3029 to 3034 which were about to
be encoded in Netsuite on August 13, 2018 were dated
August 11, 2018, suggesting that cash were actually received on
that date. Copies of the clients copy of the receipts are hereto
attached and made integral part hereof as Annexes “O” to “O-5”.
13.2. There was a shortage on petty cash fund computed as follows:
Cash on hand 0.00
Current expenses/vouchers 2,277.06 4

Check on hand c/o treasury dept. Total PCF expenses Less: PCF Variance
(Shortage):

2,040.00 4,317.06 10,000.00 5,682.94

A copy of the Petty Cash Fund Breakdown is hereto attached and made
integral part hereof as Annex “P”. 13.3.

Checks amounting to Php920.00 and Php3,068.50 were released to

Respondent ___ last August 2, 2018 representing petty cash replenishment
and are encashed on the same day. However, the proceeds of the checks
were not remitted. There was no cash counted and expenses/vouchers only
amounted to Php2,277.06. Copies of the logbook and Statement of Account
are hereto attached and made integral parts hereof as Annexes “Q” and “R”.
13.4. A check was released to Respondent ___ for payment to Accredited
Service Provider (ASP) in the amount of Php2,000.00. However, there was
no receipt shown to support that it was remitted. A copy of the check is
hereto attached and made integral part hereof as Annex “S”. 14. On August
14, 2018, in coordination with ___, ___ conducted its own investigation.
Respondent ___ were invited as resource persons. During the investigation
Respondent ___ denied any knowledge and/or participation regarding the
anomalies in ___ Binangonan. Copies of the Statements of Respondent ___
are hereto attached and made integral parts hereof as Annexes “T” to “U”.
15. On August 15, 2018, the ___ representatives went to ___ main office in
Cubao, Quezon City in order to conduct further investigation. They were able
to talk to ___ who has personal knowledge on the scheme of Respondents in
stealing from ___, to wit: 15.1. When Respondents ___ collects the monthly
amortizations of the clients/borrowers, they only indicate the date of
payment on the client’s copy of the receipts. No date is indicated on the
branch copy of the receipts. 15.2. They will then turnover only a portion of
their collections to the cashier as well as its corresponding receipts. They
make it appear that only the amount turned over to the cashier was
collected by retaining the branch copies of the receipts. Moreover, only the
amount turned over to the cashier is reported in ___ so that there will be no
inconsistencies with the amount reported in MC Best and the amount turned
over to the cashier. 15.3. Respondents used the funds they took for their
own personal benefit like cigarettes and food. 5

15.4.

Since they took a portion of the collection, there are clients whose loan
account became past due. Those clients had complained to ___. The
collectors, Respondents __, acting in conspiracy with the manager,
Respondent __, misrepresented to the clients that their payments were only
misposted and it will be corrected. 15.5. In order to conceal their illegal acts,
the Respondents never reported the complaints to ___. They also used the
current or subsequent day collections to cover up the monthly amortizations
that they took on the previous day. They used the undated receipts to make
it appear that the collections were made on the date indicated on said
receipts. 16. Respondent ___ admitted that she took and used for her
personal benefit the monthly amortization payments of the clients using the
same scheme used by Respondents ___. She stated that after receiving the
monthly amortization payments from the clients, she will encode into the
system only a portion of the day’s collection. She also said that she also
issued to the clients dated receipts but she did not indicate the date on the
branch copy of the receipts which she concealed in order to cover up the
amounts that she took (Paragraph 3 of Respondent ___’s Statement). A copy
of the Statement of Respondent __ dated August 15, 2018 is hereto
attached and made integral part hereof as Annex “V”. 17. Respondent __
also admitted that she acted in conspiracy with the collectors, Respondents
___ to steal the payments due to ___ and to conceal their illegal acts. They
will tell the complaining clients that their payments were only misposted and
that they will correct the same. She will not report the incident to her
superiors and in order to further conceal the money that she stole, she will
use the current or subsequent day collections to cover up the monthly
amortizations that she took on the previous days. She also stated that
Respondents ___ were remitting receipts without the corresponding cash
payments from the clients/borrowers and that she does not report the illegal
acts of Respondents ___ to her superiors and to ___. (Paragraph 2 and 3 of
Respondent __ Statement) 18. After the investigation, Respondent _a
promised to pay the stolen monthly amortizations but she has not given any
payment up to this date. Moreover, Respondent ___ cannot be located and
contacted by ___s since August 2018. Respondents are criminally liable for
Qualified Theft under Article 310 of the Revised Penal Code in relation to
Article 308. 19. The Supreme Court, in the case of People vs. Puig and
Porras (G.R. Nos. 173654-765, August 28, 2008) discussed the elements of
the crime of Qualified Theft thus: 6

“Qualified Theft, as defined and punished under Article 310 of the Revised
Penal Code, is committed as follows, viz:

ART. 310. Qualified Theft. – The crime of theft shall be punished by the
penalties next higher by two degrees than those respectively specified in the
next preceding article, if committed by a domestic servant, or with grave
abuse of confidence, or if the property stolen is motor vehicle, mail matter or
large cattle or consists of coconuts taken from the premises of a plantation,
fish taken from a fishpond or fishery or if property is taken on the occasion
of fire, earthquake, typhoon, volcanic eruption, or any other calamity,
vehicular accident or civil disturbance. (Emphasis supplied.) Theft, as
defined in Article 308 of the Revised Penal Code, requires the physical taking
of another’s property without violence or intimidation against persons or
force upon things. The elements of the crime under this Article are: 1. Intent
to gain; 2. Unlawful taking; 3. Personal property belonging to another; 4.
Absence of violence or intimidation against persons or force upon things. To
fall under the crime of Qualified Theft, the following elements must concur:
1. Taking of personal property; 2. That the said property belongs to another;
3. That the said taking be done with intent to gain; 4. That it be done
without the owner’s consent; 5. That it be accomplished without the use of
violence or intimidation against persons, nor of force upon things; 6. That it
be done with grave abuse of confidence.” (Emphasis supplied) 20. All of the
above elements of Qualified Theft are present in this case. Hence,
Respondents should be held criminally liable for Qualified Theft. 20.1.
Respondents ___ took the total amount of (Php638,968.94) from the
Complainant by collecting the payments of the clients and not reporting the
same to __. 20.2. Complainant is liable to ___ for the funds that it agreed to
collect from the borrowers.

7
20.3. The taking of the subject funds was with intent to gain which was
evident from the fact that Respondents took and used the collections for
their own personal benefit. 20.3.1. Respondents __ used the money they
took from the Complainant to buy cigarettes and food. Paragraph 3 of ___
Statement states, to wit:

“.” 20.3.2. Respondent __ admitted that she used the collections/money she
took to pay her debts. Paragraph 1 of Respondent __ Statement states, to
wit:

“” 20.3.3. Respondents also used the collections/money they took from the
Complainant to treat the staffs of ___Binangonan to lunch on several
occasions according to __. (Paragraph 1 of Ms. _) 21.4. The taking was done
without the consent of the Complainant __. Respondents concealed their
illegal activities by retaining the branch copy of the receipts, failing to
reporting the monthly amortization payments of the borrowers into the
____’ systems and not reporting the borrowers’ complaints to their
superiors. 21.5. The taking was accomplished without violence or
intimidation against person or force upon things. 21.6. The taking was done
with grave abuse of confidence. In the case of People vs. Puig and Porras,
the Supreme Court reiterated that bank employees who come into
possession of the money deposited in therein enjoy the confidence reposed
in them by the bank, to wit:

“It is beyond doubt that tellers, Cashiers, Bookkeepers and other employees
of a Bank who come into possession of the monies deposited therein enjoy
the confidence reposed in them by their employer. Banks, on the other hand,
where monies are deposited, are considered the owners thereof. This is very
clear not only from the express provisions of the law, but from established
jurisprudence. The relationship between banks and depositors has been held
to be that of creditor and debtor. Articles 1953 and 1980 of the New Civil
Code, as appropriately pointed out by petitioner, provide as follows: 8

Article 1953. A person who receives a loan of money or any other fungible
thing acquires the ownership thereof, and is bound to pay to the creditor an
equal amount of the same kind and quality. Article 1980. Fixed, savings, and
current deposits of money in banks and similar institutions shall be governed
by the provisions concerning loan. In a long line of cases involving Qualified
Theft, this Court has firmly established the nature of possession by the Bank
of the money deposits therein, and the duties being performed by its
employees who have custody of the money or have come into possession of
it. The Court has consistently considered the allegations in the Information
that such employees acted with grave abuse of confidence, to the damage
and prejudice of the Bank, without particularly referring to it as owner of the
money deposits, as sufficient to make out a case of Qualified Theft. For a
graphic illustration, we cite Roque v. People (444 SCRA 98, 100-101), where
the accused teller was convicted for Qualified Theft based on this
Information: That on or about the 16th day of November, 1989, in the
municipality of Floridablanca, province of Pampanga, Philippines and within
the jurisdiction of his Honorable Court, the above-named accused ASUNCION
GALANG ROQUE, being then employed as teller of the Basa Air Base Savings
and Loan Association Inc. (BABSLA) with office address at Basa Air Base,
Floridablanca, Pampanga, and as such was authorized and reposed with the
responsibility to receive and collect capital contributions from its
member/contributors of said corporation, and having collected and received
in her capacity as teller of the BABSLA the sum of TEN THOUSAND PESOS
(P10,000.00), said accused, with intent of gain, with grave abuse of
confidence and without the knowledge and consent of said corporation, did
then and there willfully, unlawfully and feloniously take, steal and carry away
the amount of P10,000.00, Philippine currency, by making it appear that a
certain depositor by the name of Antonio Salazar withdrew from his Savings
Account No. 1359, when in truth and in fact said Antonio Salazar did not
withdr[a]w the said amount of P10,000.00 to the damage and prejudice of
BABSLA in the total amount of P10,000.00, Philippine currency. In convicting
the therein appellant, the Court held that: [S]ince the teller occupies a
position of confidence, and the bank places money in the teller’s possession
due to the 9

confidence reposed on the teller, the felony of qualified theft would be

committed (Id. at 119). Also in People v. Sison (379 Phil. 363, 366-367), the
Branch Operations Officer was convicted of the crime of Qualified Theft
based on the Information as herein cited: That in or about and during the
period compressed between January 24, 1992 and February 13, 1992, both
dates inclusive, in the City of Manila, Philippines, the said accused did then
and there wilfully, unlawfully and feloniously, with intent of gain and without
the knowledge and consent of the owner thereof, take, steal and carry away
the following, to wit: Cash money amounting to P6,000,000.00 in different
denominations belonging to the PHILIPPINE COMMERCIAL INTERNATIONAL
BANK (PCIBank for brevity), Luneta Branch, Manila represented by its
Branch Manager, HELEN U. FARGAS, to the damage and prejudice of the said
owner in the aforesaid amount of P6,000,000.00, Philippine Currency. That
in the commission of the said offense, herein accused acted with grave
abuse of confidence and unfaithfulness, he being the Branch Operation
Officer of the said complainant and as such he had free access to the place
where the said amount of money was kept. The judgment of conviction
elaborated thus: The crime perpetuated by appellant against his employer,
the Philippine Commercial and Industrial Bank (PCIB), is Qualified Theft.
Appellant could not have committed the crime had he not been holding the
position of Luneta Branch Operation Officer which gave him not only sole
access to the bank vault xxx. The management of the PCIB reposed its trust
and confidence in the appellant as its Luneta Branch Operation Officer, and it
was this trust and confidence which he exploited to enrich himself to the
damage and prejudice of PCIB x x x (Id. at 385). From another end, People
v. Locson (57 Phil. 325), in addition to People v. Sison, described the nature
of possession by the Bank. The money in this case was in the possession of
the defendant as receiving teller of the bank, and the possession of the
defendant was the possession of the Bank. The Court held therein that when
the defendant, with grave abuse of confidence, removed the money and
appropriated it to his own use without the consent of the Bank, there was
taking as contemplated in the crime of Qualified Theft (Id.) 10

Conspicuously, in all of the foregoing cases, where the Informations merely

alleged the positions of the respondents; that the crime was committed with
grave abuse of confidence, with intent to gain and without the knowledge
and consent of the Bank, without necessarily stating the phrase being
assiduously insisted upon by respondents, "of a relation by reason of
dependence, guardianship or vigilance, between the respondents and the
offended party that has created a high degree of confidence between them,
which respondents abused," (Rollo, p. 158) and without employing the word
"owner" in lieu of the "Bank" were considered to have satisfied the test of
sufficiency of allegations. As regards the respondents who were employed as
Cashier and Bookkeeper of the Bank in this case, there is even no reason to
quibble on the allegation in the Informations that they acted with grave
abuse of confidence. In fact, the Information which alleged grave abuse of
confidence by accused herein is even more precise, as this is exactly the
requirement of the law in qualifying the crime of Theft. In summary, the
Bank acquires ownership of the money deposited by its clients; and the
employees of the Bank, who are entrusted with the possession of money of
the Bank due to the confidence reposed in them, occupy positions of
confidence. The Informations, therefore, sufficiently allege all the essential
elements constituting the crime of Qualified Theft.” (Emphasis supplied) 21. I
have executed this complaint-affidavit to attest to the truth of the foregoing
and to initiate a complaint against Respondent, for and on behalf of ___, for
Qualified Theft, and/or such other offenses in the Revised Penal Code which
this Honorable Office may deem appropriate after the conduct of Preliminary
Investigation. FURTHER AFFIANT SAYETH NAUGHT. IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I
sign ______________________ at ______________ City.

hereunder

on

this

____ Affiant / Authorized Representative

11
SUBSCRIBED AND SWORN before me on this ______________________ at
______________ City. I hereby certify that I have personally examined the
complaint and that I am convinced that the foregoing is her true and
voluntary act and deed.