378 Phil. 1187
MENDOZA, J.:
12. Sometime in 1989, while SIHI’s appeal from the order of the lower court was still pending with the appellate courts, SIHI and Cometa filed a criminal case against Guevara for falsification of Public Documents which was docketed in the Office of the Provincial Fiscal of Makati, Metro Manila, entitled "State Investment House, Inc. vs. Reynaldo S. Guevara", I.S. No. 89-3747. The basis of the aforesaid case filed by the defendants against Guevara is a supposed Affidavit of Undertaking dated September 9, 1987 which had allegedly been submitted by the plaintiffs with the (HLURB) in connection with its application of a License to Sell its townhouse units in the RSG Condominium-Gueventville II. According to the defendants, the Affidavit of Undertaking is a forgery because the signature therein purporting to be that of Cometa is not Cometa’s signature.The first two requisites are sufficiently alleged in the complaint. We may also take as sufficiently pleaded the fourth requisite, i.e., malice. As stated in the original decision in this case, a general averment of malice is sufficient in view of Rule 8, §5 of the Rules of Civil Procedure. Accordingly, the allegation in par. 18 that petitioners filed the criminal case for the purpose of harassing and pressuring Guevarra, in his capacity as chairman of Guevent Industrial Development Corporation (GIDC), to give in to their illicit and malicious desire to appropriate the remaining unsold properties of the corporation, may be considered sufficient.
13. After the parties had submitted their respective Affidavits, the Office of the Makati Provincial Fiscal dismissed the case filed by the defendants against Guevara. Notwithstanding this, the defendants appealed to the Department of Justice and the latter reversed the dismissal of the case by the Makati Provincial Fiscal and ordered the filing of the corresponding information in court. Consequently, a criminal information was filed against Guevara in the Regional Trial Court of Makati, Metro Manila. The case was raffled to Branch 61 of the said court and docketed therein as Criminal Case No. 90-3018 entitled "People of the Philippines, Plaintiff, vs. Reynaldo s. Guevara, Accused".
14. Upon the filing of the information, a Warrant of Arrest was issued against Guevara. Guevara posted the necessary bail bond and the warrant for his arrest was lifted.
15. After Guevara had been arraigned and after he had entered a plea of not guilty, the prosecution represented by a private prosecutor hired by the defendants, presented its evidence against Guevara. The principal evidence submitted by the prosecution consists of the sworn testimony of Cometa to the effect that Guevara had submitted the forged document with the HLURB in connection with HBI’s application for the issuance of a License to Sell the condominium units in the RSG Condominium-Gueventville II.
16. After the prosecution had rested its case, Guevara filed a Motion to Dismiss on a Demurrer to the Evidence, contending that all the evidence submitted by the prosecution do not suffice to show that he had committed the crime for which he has been accused.
17. On March 26, 1992, the Regional Trial Court of Makati issued an order, granting Guevara’s Motion to Dismiss on a Demurrer to the Evidence and ordered the dismissal of the criminal case for falsification of public documents against him. A copy of the said order is herewith attached and made an integral part hereof as Annex "A"
18. Based on the evidence presented by the defendants against Guevara in the aforesaid criminal case and based on the order of the Regional Trial Court of Makati dismissing the case against Guevara, it is clear that the defendants had maliciously prosecuted Guevara, to his and HBI’s embarassment, damage and prejudice. The criminal case filed by the defendants against Guevara had absolutely no basis in fact and in law. Quite clearly, defendants had filed the aforesaid case with the sole intent of harassing and pressuring Guevara, in his capacity as Chairman of GIDC, to give in to their illicit and malicious desire to appropriate the remaining unsold properties of GIDC and/or to influence the appellate courts to decide in their favor, their appeal of the lower court’s decision in the GIDC case.
To prove that the subject UNDERTAKING (Exhibit "N") is falsified, the prosecution presented the testimony of complaining witness REYNALDO COMETA to prove that as President of the STATE INVESTMENT he did not execute the document of undertaking and thus, the subject document (Exhibit "N") is falsified and his signature thereat is not his signature. To corroborate the testimony of COMETA, the NBI handwriting expert LUZVIMINDA C. SABADO, submitted the questioned Documents Report No. 278-688 dated 21 June 1988 to show that the signature above the name of COMETA in the subject undertaking (Exhibit "N") and the specimen signatures of COMETA WERE not written by one and the same person (Exhibit "Y").According to the trial court, the circumstantial evidence presented by the prosecution did not add up to a prima facie case against the accused.[6] It adverted to the fact that the forged Letter of Undertaking was dated September 9, 1987, while private respondent Guevarra’s application, with documents attached to it, was dated September 3, 1987. In this circumstance, the trial court thought it was not clear that the accused was responsible for sending the document dated September 9, 1987 and, therefore, the legal presumption that the possessor of a forged instrument is also the forger did not apply. Moreover, the trial court noted that the accused, through an affidavit, had represented to the Housing and Land Use Regulatory Board that the property, subject of the application, was unencumbered. Hence, there was no need for the accused to submit a letter of undertaking since such was required only if the property was mortgaged.
To prove that accused falsified and/or caused the falsification of the subject undertaking (Exhibit "N"), the prosecution presented the records of the HOUSING BOARD which include the "Official Form" letter-application (Exhibit "J") submitted by accused together with the required documents enumerated therein which supposedly included the undertaking to release mortgage. The testimony of a HOUSING BOARD official, Ms. Floredeliza Manuel was presented to testify as an official of the HOUSING BOARD the standard procedure is that the BOARD requires from applicants for authority such as that applied for by accused, the following requirements were quoted by the prosecution in page 5 of their OPPOSITION and reproduced hereunder:
Q Can you recall some of the requirements?
A Well, we require a memorandum of agreement between the HLURB, the bank, and a memorandum of agreement executed by the bank, the developer and the Owner and HLURB. We also require if the title is clean so we require an affidavit to the effect that it is free from any encumbrances and then we also require a bank because it is under escrow, so there is a trustee bank because all the money will be deposited in the bank. And if the property is mortgaged then we require an affidavit of undertaking from any banking or financing institution or if it is mortgaged with the private person then we also require an affidavit of undertaking from that person, sir. (TSN, 24 July 1991, pp. 6-7; emphasis added).
Q Now, you said that if the property covered by an application for a license to sell is mortgaged, your office required the submission of an affidavit of undertaking?
A Yes, sir.
Q If there is no affidavit of undertaking, what action is taken on the application?
A We will not recommend that for approval, sir. (TSN, 24 July 1991, p. 13)
The documentary evidence marked from Exhibits "A" to "EE" is mostly the corporate papers and titles of the GUEVENT and HONEYCOMB to prove that accused GUEVARRA is an incorporator, stockholder, director and officer of the said corporations except for Exhibits involving the subject documents to be segregated in the later findings.
It is true that in dismissing the criminal case against private respondent, the trial court found that "there is neither direct nor circumstantial evidence to prove that accused is the author of this falsified document (Exh. N)" and for this reason ordered:
WHEREFORE, premises above considered, for failure of the prosecution to establish a prima facie case against accused, the MOTION TO DISMISS is hereby GRANTED, and the charge against accused REYNALDO GUEVARRA for Falsification of Public Documents is hereby DISMISSED without pronouncement as to costs.