SC affirms Aguinaldo descendant’s estafa conviction

MANILA, Philippines — The Supreme Court has upheld the conviction for estafa of a descendant and namesake of the late first president Emilio Aguinaldo.

In a seven-page resolution, the second division of the High Court affirmed the decisions of the Court of Appeals (CA) in August 2016 and Makati City Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 147 that found Emilio Aguinaldo IV guilty of estafa in a complaint filed by ACROL Holdings Inc. 

The RTC sentenced him to a prison term of four years and two months to 20 years.

The SC agreed with the findings of both the CA and the RTC that Aguinaldo misrepresented to ACROL that he has lawful authority or power to sell a property in Tagaytay in the name of the estate of Emilio Aguinaldo and Maria Agoncillo.

Aguinaldo presented several special powers of attorney allegedly executed by his co-heirs and pretended to possess the authentic and genuine land title, the SC said.

The High Court affirmed Aguinaldo’s conviction despite his payment of P2.05 million to ACROL as shown by a quitclaim.

It stressed that reimbursement affects only the offender’s civil liability, not his criminal liability.

With this, the SC affirmed the CA’s Aug. 25, 2016 decision, which amended the decision of the RTC dated June 18, 2013 and deleted the awards of actual damages and interests to the company as a result of the quitclaim.