CORAZON J. VIZCONDE v.

INTERMEDIATE APPELLATE COURT & PEOPLE

OF THE PHILIPPINES
G.R. No. 74231, April 10, 1987, FIRST DIVISION, (Narvasa, J.)
FACTS: Complainant Dr. Marylou Perlas delivered her 8-carat diamond ring to
petitioner Corazon Vizconde, a long time friend, asking the latter to sell it on
commission for P85,000.00. Later on, Vizconde claimed to have a sure buyerPilar
Pagulayan. Perlas parted with the ring so that Pagulayans buyer could examine it
privately when the latter gave her a postdated check for the price and, together with
Vizconde, signed a receipt prepared by Perlas. The receipt reads as follow:
Received from Dra. Marylou Javier-Perlas one (1) solo 8 karat diamond ring, white, double cut,
brilliant cut with multiple brilliantitos, which I agree to sell for P85,000.00 (eighty-five thousand
pesos) on commission basis and pay her in the following manner:
P85,000.00 postdated check
PNB check 730297
dated April 26, 1975
for P85,000.00
It is understood that in the event the above postdated check is dishonored for any reason
whatsoever on its due date, the total payment of the above item, shall become immediately due
and demandable without awaiting further demand.
I guarantee that the above check will be sufficiently funded on the respective due date.
Quezon City, Philippines
22 April 1975
(SGD.) PILAR A. PAGULAYAN
PILAR A. PAGULAYAN
16 Rd. 8 Project
I guarantee jointly and severally
(SGD.) CORAZON J. VIZCONDE
CORAZON J. VIZCONDE"

After Pagulayans postdated check matured, Perlas deposited it to her account but was
dishonored because drawn against insufficient funds. Pagulayan paid Perlas P5,000.00
against the value of the ring and gave three certificates of title to real estate to
guarantee delivery of the balance of such value.
Vizconde and Pagulayan having allegedly reneged on a promise to complete payment
for the ring, Perlas filed with the Quezon City Fiscals office a complaint against them
for estafa. This notwithstanding, Pagulayan still paid Perlas various sums totalling
P25,000.00 which left a balance of P55,000.00.
Both the Trial Court and the Court of Appeals found sufficient showing that Vizconde
and Pagulayan had assumed a joint agency in favor of Perlas for the sale of the latters
ring, which rendered them criminally liable, upon failure to return the ring or deliver
its agreed value, under Art. 315, par. 1(b), of the Revised Penal Code.

The Solicitor General submits that Vizconde cannot be convicted of estafa under a
correct interpretation of the two principal exhibits of the prosecution, the receipts
Exhibits "A" and "D."
ISSUE: WON Vizconde can be convicted of estafa under a correct interpretation of the
receipt.
RULING: As the Solicitor General correctly puts it, the joint and several undertaking
assumed by Vizconde in a separate writing below the main body of the receipt merely
guaranteed the civil obligation of Pagulayan to pay Perlas the value of the ring in the
event of her (Pagulayans) failure to return said article. It cannot, in any sense, be
construed as assuming any criminal responsibility consequent upon the failure of
Pagulayan to return the ring or deliver its value. It is fundamental that criminal
responsibility is personal and that in the absence of conspiracy, one cannot be held
criminally liable for the act or default of another.
Now, the information charges conspiracy between Vizconde and Pagulayan, but no
adequate proof thereof has been presented. It is of course true that direct proof of
conspiracy is not essential to convict an alleged conspirator, and that conspiracy may be
established by evidence of acts done in pursuance of a common unlawful purpose. Here,
however, the circumstances from which a reasonable inference of conspiracy might
arise, such as the fact that Vizconde and the complainant were friends of long standing
and former classmates, that it was Vizconde who introduced Pagulayan to Perlas, that
Vizconde was present on the two occasions when the ring was entrusted to Pagulayan
and when part payment of P5,000.00 was made, and that she signed the receipts on
those occasions are, at best, inconclusive.
Upon the evidence, Vizconde was a mere guarantor, a solidary one to be sure, of the
obligation assumed by Pagulayan to complainant Perlas for the return of the latters
ring or the delivery of its value. Whatever liability was incurred by Pagulayan for
defaulting on such obligation and this is not inquired into that of Vizconde
consequent upon such default was merely civil, not criminal. It was, therefore, error to
convict her of estafa.
WHEREFORE, except insofar as it affirms the judgment of the Trial Court ordering
appellant Corazon J. Vizconde, solidarily with Pilar A. Pagulayan, to indemnify the
complainant Marylou J. Perlas in the amount of P55,000.00 for the unaccounted
balance of the value of the latters ring, the appealed Decision of the Court of Appeals is
reversed and set aside, and said appellant is acquitted, with costs de oficio. As the
record indicates that levies on preliminary attachment and on execution pending
appeal have been made on behalf of the complainant, 21 which may have resulted in
further reducing the abovestated balance, the appellant may, upon remand of this case
to the Trial Court, prove any reductions, by the operation of said levies or otherwise, to
which the amount of the indemnity adjudged may be justly subject.
SO ORDERED.