EVELYN M. RELUCIO, PETITIONER, VS. CIVIL SERVICE COMMISSION AND COURT OF APPEALS, RESPONDENTS.

Before us is a petition for review under rule 45 of the Rules of
Court seeking to set aside the September 20, 2000 decision^[1]
and the February 6, 2001 resolution^[2]
of the Court of Appeals^[3]
in CA-G.R. SP No. 58966, which upheld Resolution Nos. 991431^[4]
and 992599^[5]
of the Civil Service Commission (CSC) finding petitioner Evelyn M. Relucio
guilty of Dishonesty and Falsification of Official Documents and imposing upon
her the penalty of dismissal from service.

Petitioner, Evelyn M. Relucio is a Community Affairs Officer IV
of Iligan City. She claimed that her
father, the late Alberto Mansueto, Jr., was a World War II veteran who served
with the rank of Sergeant at the 85^th Infantry Regiment, Cebu Area
Command 82^nd Division, Philippine Army, from June 1942 to April
1945. During the lifetime of Alberto
Mansueto, Jr., he, and after his demise, his wife, Elena Crespo-Mansueto, tried
to seek official confirmation of his military service with the Philippine
Veterans Board (now Philippine Veterans Affairs Office, PVAO). They presented the pertinent documents
therefor, including the affidavits dated June 21, 1972, April 8, 1981, and July
8, 1981, executed by Lt. Col. Rogaciano C. Espiritu, Col. Manuel F. Segura and
Capt. Lorenzo M. Buenaflor, respectively.^[6]
Unfortunately, the Mansuetos failed to obtain said confirmation and recognition
of Alberto Mansueto, Jr.’s, military services.

Meanwhile, on April 3, 1982, Executive Order No. 790 was issued
granting and extending the veteran preference rating in civil service
examination to any one child of a veteran.

Thus, petitioner filed a petition to avail of said preference
rating in civil service examination. Aware that the military service of her father was not yet officially
recognized by the PVAO, she presented the affidavits executed by Lt. Col.
Rogaciano C. Espiritu, Col. Manuel F. Segura and Capt. Lorenzo M. Buenaflor, in
support of her application.

Acting on petitioner’s application, the PVAO issued Master List
No. 274, dated March 30, 1987 and Certification No. 22413A, dated March 24,
1987, stating that Alberto Mansueto, Jr., was a World War II Veteran with the
rank of private. On the basis of said
Master List and Certification, the CSC granted her the benefit of 10%
additional veterans preference rating and a Career Service Professional
Eligibility.

Sometime in 1993, the CSC and the PVAO undertook a revalidation
of their records to ascertain the truthfulness of the claims of supposed
children of veterans who were given the 10% veterans preferential rating. Thus, in the Memorandum of Agreement entered
into by the CSC and the PVAO on January 7, 1994, it was agreed that “[f]or
purposes of the grant of veterans preference rating, the name of the veteran
should appear in any of the official documents of PVAO. These documents are the Reconstructed
Recognized Guerilla Roster (RRGR), Philippine Veterans Bank Listing (PVBL),
Updated List of AFP Retirees and List of Veterans with approved Deserving
Guerilla Status.”^[7]

One of those investigated was the claim of petitioner that her
father Alberto Mansueto, Jr., who died on December 9, 1964, was a second World
War veteran. On the basis of the
“Report” submitted by the PVAO that the name of Alberto Mansueto, Jr., does not
appear in any of its records, and after the requisite preliminary and
fact-finding investigation, the CSC approved Resolution No. 95-4573 giving due
course to the Formal Charge against petitioner for dishonesty and falsification
of official documents. Pertinent
portion of the Formal Charge reads:

When Evelyn M. Relucio applied for the grant of veteran preference
rating at the Philippine Veterans Affairs Office (PVAO), she claimed that her
father, Alberto Mansueto, was a veteran. However, after verifications done by the Commission, it was determined
that the name of Alberto Mansueto, is not found in any of PVAO’s official
records of veterans. That by reason of
her misrepresentation, she was issued Certification No. 22413A and Master List
No. 274 by Philippine Veterans Affairs Office dated March 24, 1987 and March
30, 1987, respectively certifying that her father Alberto [M]ansueto is a World
War II Veteran with the rank of Private. As result of the certification issued by the PVAO, Evelyn Relucio was
able to use the same to avail of the benefits of a 10% veterans preference
granted to children of veterans. As a
consequence thereof, she was issued a Career Service Professional eligibility
and subsequently appointed under permanent appointment at the Palao City
Government, Iligan City.^[8]

In her letter-Answer to the Formal Charge, petitioner claimed
good faith and admitted, inter alia,
that her father, before his demise was unable to complete all the papers and
documentation in support of his claim that he was a World War II veteran, thus:

xxx         xxx         xxx

To support my denial and/or disavowal and disagreement with the
finding of a prima facie case against me, in turn, I hereby respectfully
submit, in good faith, the hereunder listed certified xerox copies of
Affidavits being executed by [the] following-named World War II veterans then
the guerilla officers and associates of my late guerilla veteran father, who
had served as World War II guerilla Radio Operator with [the] rank of Sergeant
at Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 85^th INFANTRY Regiment,
Cebu Area Command, 82^nd DIVISION, Philippine Army, with station at
Babag, Cebu City, namely:

xxx       
 xxx       
 xxx

Foregoing documents, duly sworn under oath, attest to the veracity
that my late World War II guerilla veteran father Alberto M. Mansueto, Jr.
served with a rank of Sergeant, then assigned as Radio Operator of Headquarters
& Headquarters Company, 85^th INFANTRY Regiment, Cebu Area
Command, 82^nd DIVISION, Philippine Army, from June 1942 through
April, 1945, at Babag, Cebu City Philippines.

The papers/documents of my late guerilla veteran father, as related
to his adjudication as such veteran, were all in the process of documentation
when the poblacion-wide fire/conflagration last May 21, 1957 in Iligan City
caught our family members by surprise, thereby gutted our residential house,
including all our papers and documents that covered the adjudication of my late
veteran father, and thus, left all the numbers of our family with bare food,
clothing, and petty items of our family business. Despondent moves of (sic)
our late father transferred our family business, residence and business
activities somewhere outside the poblacion proper of Iligan City, particularly
in Barangay Tibanga. Unluckily, the
preparatory moves of my late father to complete his papers/documents were
overtaken by his untimely death/demise last December 9, 1964. Hence, my mother, Elena Crespo Mansueto, as
surviving wife of my late father, met difficulty in completing the requirements
for the adjudication and monetary claims for the World War II veteran
adjudication of my late father.

Attached also hereto, is a copy of the Affidavit of my mother, Elena
Crespo Mansueto, as executed on August 18, 1995 attesting to the foregoing
narration of the circumstances and the fact that my late father was a genuine
World War II guerilla veteran.

I hope that the foregoing explanations will clarify my stand that
my late father was indeed and in fact a genuine World War II veteran. No misrepresentation done, I highly deserve
availments of the benefits of a 10% veterans granted to children of World War
II veteran.

All the foregoing statements of facts and circumstances considered
as to the truth of the genuine status of my late father as a World War II
guerilla veteran, I HEREBY WAIVE A FORMAL INVESTIGATION in connection with this
case.

xxx       
 xxx       
 xxx.^[9]

On July 5, 1999, the Commission issued Resolution No. 991431,
finding the petitioner guilty as charged and imposing upon her the penalty of
dismissal from service. The dispositive
portion thereof reads:

WHEREFORE, Evelyn M. Relucio is hereby found guilty of Dishonesty
and Falsification of Official Documents. Accordingly, she is meted the penalty of dismissal from service with all
the accessory penalties.

Let a copy of this Resolution be furnished the Office of the
Ombudsman for whatever criminal action it may take under the premises.^[10]

On November 24, 1999, the CSC denied petitioner’s motion for
reconsideration in its Resolution No. 992599.^[11]

On May 29, 2000, petitioner filed with the Court of Appeals a
petition for certiorari under Rule 65, contending that the CSC gravely abused
its discretion in issuing the assailed resolutions. On September 20, 2000, the Court of Appeals rendered a decision
dismissing the petition on both procedural and substantive grounds. It ruled that the proper remedy is a
petition for review under Rule 43, and not a petition for certiorari under Rule
65. It further held that the CSC
committed no abuse of discretion in finding petitioner guilty of dishonesty and
falsification considering that the CSC based its decision on the Report of the
PVAO that Alberto Mansueto, Jr., whom petitioner represented to be a veteran,
was not in the list of the confirmed and recognized World War II veterans.

Petitioner filed a motion for reconsideration which was denied on
February 6, 2001.^[12]

Hence, the instant petition for review.

Meanwhile, on January 10, 2001, the Military Service Board,
Department of National Defense, confirmed the military services of Alberto
Mansueto, Jr., and conferred upon him full military veteran status.^[13]

The petition is impressed with merit.

Under Section 23, Rule XIV, of the Omnibus Rules Implementing the
provisions of Book V, of E.O. NO. 292, dishonesty and falsification of official
document are grave offenses punishable with dismissal from service. Dishonesty connotes a disposition to lie,
cheat or defraud.^[14]
On the other hand, the elements of falsification are as follows: (a) the
offender makes in a documents statements in a narration of facts; (b) the
offender has a legal obligation to disclose the truth of the facts narrated;
(c) the facts narrated by the offender are absolutely false; and, (d) the
perversion of truth in the narration of facts was made with the wrongful intent
of injuring a third person.^[15]

The rule is that “there can be no conviction for falsification of
a public document if the acts of the accused are consistent with good faith…” Thus, the maxim, actus non facit reum, nisi mens sit rea – a crime is not committed
if the mind of the person performing the act complained of be innocent.^[16]

In the case at bar, petitioner was undoubtedly in good faith when
she claimed that she was a daughter of a World War II veteran. Aware that her father’s veteran status was
not yet confirmed, she submitted affidavits of the superiors and contemporaries
in the military of her father to prove that he indeed served during World War
II. In fact, on the basis of said
affidavits, the PVAO recognized her father’s services and consequently issued
Master List No. 274 dated March 30, 1987 and Certification No. 22413A dated
March 24, 1987, stating that Alberto Mansueto, Jr., was a World War II Veteran with
the rank of private.

Moreover, one of the elements of the offense of falsification, i.e., that the facts narrated by the
offender be absolutely false, is
lacking in the instant case. The
subsequent confirmation and recognition of the veteran status of petitioner’s
father on January 10, 2001 proves that when she declared that he was a veteran,
she was stating the truth.

Petitioner should, therefore, be exonerated from the charges
filed against her. Consequently,
payment of her back salaries is in order. Pursuant to current jurisprudence, a civil service employee terminated
from the service and later found innocent of the charges is entitled to back
salaries^[17]
limited to a period not exceeding five years.^[18]

WHEREFORE, in view of all the foregoing, the petition is
GRANTED. The September 20, 2000
decision and the February 6, 2001 resolution of the Court of Appeals in CA-G.R.
SP No. 58966, and Resolution Nos. 991431 and 992599, of the Civil Service
Commission are REVERSED and SET ASIDE. Petitioner Evelyn M. Relucio is reinstated to her former position as
Community Affairs Officer IV of Iligan City with back salaries and benefits due
her from the time of her termination up to the date of reinstatement.

SO ORDERED.

Davide, Jr., C.J., Bellosillo, Puno, Vitug, Mendoza,
Panganiban, Quisumbing, Sandoval-Gutierrez, Carpio, Austria-Martinez,
Carpio-Morales, and Azcuna, JJ., concur.

Corona, J., on official leave.

Callejo, Sr., J., no part.

---

^[1]
Rollo, p. 28.

^[2]
Rollo, p. 47.

^[3]
Special Seventeenth Division, composed of Associate Justices Romeo J. Callejo
(Chairman and ponente); Martin S. Villarama, Jr. (member); and Perlita J. Tria
Tirona (member).

^[4]
Rollo, p. 94.

^[5]
Rollo, p. 99.

^[6]
Rollo, pp. 110-112.

^[7]
Rollo, p. 100.

^[8]
Rollo, p. 94.

^[9] Rollo, p. 107.

^[10] Rollo, p. 98.

^[11] Rollo, p. 99.

^[12] Rollo, p. 47.

^[13] Rollo, p. 188.

^[14] H.C.
Campbell, Black, Blacks Law Dictionary, Fifth Edition, p. 421.

^[15] Lecaroz v.
Sandiganbayan, et al., 305 SCRA 396, 413 [1999], citing Article 171 of the
Revised Penal Code.

^[16]
Amora, Jr. v. Court of Appeals, 115
SCRA 388, 393 [1982], citing U.S. v.
Catolico, 18 Phil. 504, 507 [1911].

^[17] Castro v.
Secretary Ricardo Gloria, G.R. No. 132174, August 20, 2001, citing
Bangalisan v. Court of Appeals, 276
SCRA 619 [1997]; Alipat v. Court of Appeals, 308 SCRA 781
[1999].

^[18] Adiong v.
Court of Appeals, G.R. No. 136480, December 4, 2001, citing Marohombsar v. Court of Appeals, 326 SCRA 62, 73-74 [2000]; San Luis v. Court of Appeals, 174 SCRA 258
[1989]; Tan, Jr. v. Office of the
President, 229 SCRA 677 [1994].