[ G.R. No. 45532. October 13, 1938 ] 66 Phil. 344
[ G.R. No. 45532. October 13, 1938 ]
THE PEOPLE OF THE PHILIPPINES, PLAINTIFF AND APPELLEE, VS. PRUDENCIO FEVIDAL, DEFENDANT AND APPELLANT. D E C I S I O N
DIAZ, J.:
Based upon the facts inferred from Exhibits A, B and C appearing in the record, an information against Prudencio Fevidal was filed in the Courts of First Instance of Leyte, charging him with having violated section 2761 of the Administrative Code which reads as follows:
“Sec. 2761. Holding of prohibited interest by public officer.—Any municipal or township officer who, contrary to law, shall directly or indirectly be interested in any contract work, or cockpit, or other permitted game, or amusement, or in any business of the municipality or township, or in the purchase of any real estate or any other property belonging thereto shall, upon conviction, be imprisoned for not less than six months nor more than two years.”
After the trial, the court found the accused guilty of said violation of law and sentenced him to the indeterminate penalty of from six months to two years’ imprisonment, and to pay the costs of the trial. The accused appealed from the judgment which so sentenced him, and in the brief filed by him in this instance, he argues that the lower court erred in finding him guilty.
Exhibits A, B and C show that on December 3 and 12, 1934, stall No. 1 of the public market was awarded to the highest bidder after public auction by the corresponding authorities of the municipality of Jaro of the Province of Leyte, by virtue of the provisions of a municipal ordinance approved six months prior thereto; that said bidder was Abdon Relevo, and that he tendered his bid not on his own account but in the name and for the account of the accused and the latter’s wife named Dionisia Malate. Upon this evidence and the admissions made by both the accused and the fiscal during the trial and, perhaps, upon other evidence which it is not incumbent upon this court to examine now because its jurisdiction in cases like the present one is confined to deciding questions of law, the lower court arrived at the conclusion that when the accused, through Abdon Relevo and through his wife, became interested in the acquisition and possession of the stall in question in the public market of Jaro, on December 3 and 12, 1934, by bidding therefor at the public auction held for that purpose on said occasion, he was not yet a member of the municipal council of said municipality, not even an employee thereof; and that from the time he acquired and possessed said stall under the circumstances above-stated, he began paying not the daily rent of P.50 used to be paid formerly but that of P.65 daily, which was exactly the rate for which he had tendered his bid at the public auction.
The provisions of the section allegedly violated, section 2761 of the Administrative Code, prohibit only the act of taking part in the business of the municipality when the person doing so is a public officer, a prohibition which is undoubtedly due to the desire to prevent one, who is a municipal officer or employee, from having more advantages than another who is not so, in taking part in the business of the municipality, and to the desire to likewise prevent one from serving two masters at the same time, because to do one or the other is contrary to morals and public order.
The accused-appellant not being in the circumstances above set forth, inasmuch as, according to the findings of the lower court, he was not yet a councilor when he indirectly took part in the acquisition and possession of said stall of the public market of Jaro at a public auction, the judgment appealed from should be reversed.
Wherefore, the appealed judgment is reversed, and the accused is hereby acquitted of the violation of law with which he is charged, with the costs de oficio. So ordered.
Avanceña, C. J., Villa-Real, Abad Santos, Laurel, and Concepcion, JJ., concur.