8/9/2019 Acejas III v People
1/3
ACEJAS III V PEOPLE
DOCTRINE:
Petitioners were convicted under the second kind of direct
bribery, which
contained the following elements: 1) the offender was a public
officer, 2) whoreceived the gifts or presents personally or through
another, 3) in consideration ofan act that did not constitute a
crime, and 4) that act related to the eercise ofofficial
duties!
FACTS:
"n #ecember 1$, 1%%3, &ureau of 'mmigration and #eportation
(gent ladimir*ernande+, together with a reporter went to the house
of akao (oyagi andðel -race (oyagi! *is purpose was to serve
.ission "rder /o! %304012issued by &'# ommissioner afiro
espicio against akao (oyagi, a 5apanese
national! *ernande+ told akao (oyagi, through his wife,
ðel -race, that therewere complaints against him in 5apan
and that he was suspected to be a 6aku+abig boss, a drug dependent
and an overstaying alien!
o prove that he had done nothing wrong, akao (oyagi showed his
passport to*ernande+ and signed an undertaking issued by the
latter! he undertakingstated that akao (oyagi promised to appear in
an investigation at the &'# on#ecember 2, 1%%3, and that as a
guarantee for his appearance, he wasentrusting his passport to
*ernande+! *ernande+ acknowledged receipt of thepassport!
ðel -race called 7pedito Perlas 8one of the accused) and
informed him ofthe taking of her husband9s passport! Perlas then
referred them to (tty!ucenario! hey discussed the problem with said
attorney and, following theadvice of the latter, they did not
appear before the &'#!
.eanwhile, *ernande+ prepared a Progress eport recommending that
(oyagibe placed under custodial investigation, due to reportedly
being a drugdependant and a 6aku+a!
"n #ecember 22, 1%%3, the (oyagi9s met up with (tty (ce;as '''
8a partner inucenario9s firm)! *e informed then that he would be
handling their case!
"n #ecember 24, during a family reunion, ðel -race
informed her brother 5unPelingon, 5r!, about her husband9s
passport!
"n 5anuary 2, 1%%4, 5un Pelingon talked to &'# ommissioner
espicio in#avao and told him of (oyagi9s problem with the &'#!
espicio, in turn, gave himhis calling card and told him to call him
up in his office!
8/9/2019 Acejas III v People
3/3
the passport! *ernande+ then asked for a down payment on the
payoff, duringwhich he directed ðel -race to deliver the
money to (ce;as!
(ce;as, on the other hand, claims that he was merely performing
his duty as thelawyer of the (oyagis and the said money supposedly
contains the balance of
the acceptance fee for his services as the counsel of (oyagi!
&ut his defensewas belied by the fact that during the payment,
he actually gave the envelopecontaining the money to Perlas instead
of keeping it!
he
