THE PEOPLE OF THE PHILIPPINES, petitioner, vs. HON. JOSE C. DE GUZMAN
G.R. No. 77368 October 5, 1993
Facts:
On 09 September 1985, robbery was committed in Quezon City in the house of Jose L. Obillos, Sr., where various pieces of precious jewelry alleged to be worth millions of pesos were taken. Subsequently, an information, dated 22 October 1985, was also filed against herein respondent spouses Danilo A. Alcantara and Isabelita Esguerra-Alcantara, from whose possession the jewelries stolen were recovered in Antipolo, Rizal.
Issue:
Whether or not there is a violation of the Anti-Fencing Law
Held:
Anti-Fencing Law has been enacted for the purpose of imposing a heavier penalty on persons who profit from the effects of the crime of robbery or theft, no longer merely as accessories under Article 19, paragraph 1, of the Revised Penal Code, but as equally guilty with the perpetrators of the robbery or theft itself. Robbery is the taking of personal property belonging to another, with intent to gain, by means of violence against or intimidation of any person, or using force upon anything. "Fencing", upon the other hand, is the act of any person who, with intent to gain for himself or for another, shall buy, receive, possess, keep, acquire, conceal, sell or dispose of, or shall buy and sell, or in any other manner deal in any article, item, object or anything of value which he knows, or should be known to him, to have been derived from the proceeds of the crime of robbery or theft.
The crimes of robbery and fencing are clearly then two distinct offenses. The law on fencing does not require the accused to have participated in the criminal design to commit, or to have been in any wise involved in the commission of, the crime of robbery or theft. Neither is the crime of robbery or theft made to depend on an act of fencing in order that it can be consummated. True, the object property in fencing must have been previously taken by means of either robbery or theft but the place where the robbery or theft occurs is inconsequential.
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