Facts
Sometime in 2005, Ponciano Banjao met Pedro Pequero, who was supposed to be the lawyer-brother of a security guard named Rolando Pequero. It was Pedro who appeared as counsel for Rolando at the MTC Taytay, Rizal, and prepared pleadings and signed as “Atty. Epafrodito Nollora”.
sakuratotoOn June 22, 2011, Banjao filed a complaint at the NBI – Special Action Unit about a certain Pedro falsely representing himself as a lawyer. Banjao informed Special Investigator Melvin Escurel that Pedro had been representing himself publicly as a lawyer and would again appear for a particular case in a trial court in Binangonan, Rizal, on October 14, 2011. A team headed by NBI Agent Jerom Bomediano conducted an entrapment operation on the said date. Pedro was apprehended when he appeared as Atty. Epafrodito Nollora for a particular client at the MTC, where the presiding judge even admonished him for usurpation of authority. SI Escurel then executed a Joint Affidavit of Arrest, which became the basis for the criminal cases against Pedro.
Pedro denied the charges against him and averred that he was wrongfully identified as Pedro Pequero Y Nollora, without a middle name. Pedro swore that he is truly a lawyer and that a person named Epafrodito Nollora y Ariem is the one who is not a lawyer. It was this Epafrodito Nollora y Ariem, his deceased relative, who had previously used his identity as a lawyer in another case.
Pedro further argued that on the day that he was arrested, he was at the Municipal Assessor’s Office of Binangonan, Rizal, to pay real property taxes and not for a supposed hearing of a client.
The MTC convicted Pedro of violating Commonwealth Act No. 142, or the Anti-Alias Law, which prohibits the unauthorized use of an alias. Pedro was also convicted of violating Art. 178 of the Revised Penal Code (RPC), which prohibits using a fictitious or fake name, and Art. 177, which prohibits usurpation of authority or pretending to be a person in authority. Pedro filed an appeal with the RTC. Both the RTC and CA affirmed his convictions.
ISSUE: Whether or not Pedro is guilty of the crimes of: 1) use of illegal alias under Commonwealth Act No. 142; 2) use of fictitious name under Art. 178 of the RPC; and 3) usurpation of authority or official functions under Art. 177 of the RPC.
Ruling
- PEDRO IS GUILTY OF USE OF ILLEGAL ALIAS UNDER C.A. 142
- Section 1 of C.A. 142, or the Anti-Alias Law, prohibits using a name other than one’s birth name, except for specific purposes like stage names, screen names, pen names, and the like for literary, cinema, television, radio, or entertainment purposes and in athletic events.
- In this case, Pedro’s alleged alias, “Atty. Epafrodito Nollora,” was used not for literary, cinema, television, radio, or entertainment purposes and in athletic events but to represent himself as a lawyer to the prejudice of the believing public. Pedro, likewise, had no authority to use the alias. Records are bereft of any showing that Pedro was legally authorized to use other names than his name registered at birth in the civil registry.
- PEDRO IS ALSO GUILTY OF THE CRIME OF USE OF FICTITIOUS NAME TO CAUSE DAMAGE
- The prosecution was able to establish that Pedro publicly used the name “Atty. Epafrodito Nollora,” which is not his real and registered name at birth. Although strictly speaking, it is not a fictitious name, as there was a real Atty. Epafrodito Nollora, the real Atty. Nollora had long been dead. By using the name and assuming the identity of the deceased, Pedro was successful in using a fictitious name, which caused damage to the public, especially his paying clients, who believed that they were being represented by a true and genuine lawyer.
- PEDRO IS NOT GUILTY OF THE CRIME OF USURPATION OF AUTHORITY OR OFFICIAL FUNCTIONS UNDER ART. 177 OF THE RPC
- While Pedro represented himself as a lawyer and acted as one, a lawyer is not deemed a person in authority within the meaning of Art. 177 of the RPC in relation to Art. 152 of the RPC.