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Case digest · Stages of execution; theft
Valenzuela vs. People
Caught with the stolen goods before he could leave the parking area. Is that frustrated theft?
Facts
May 19, 1994
At about 4:30 p.m., a security guard at the Super Sale Club, a supermarket inside the SM complex along North EDSA, watched Valenzuela, who wore an ID marked “Receiving Dispatching Unit (RDU),” push a cart of Tide detergent cases out to an open parking space where his companion, Calderon, waited. He went back in and came out with more.
The taxi
Valenzuela hailed a taxi, and Calderon loaded the cartons into it. The guard stopped the taxi as it was leaving the open parking area and asked for a receipt.
The arrest
Both men ran. The guard fired a warning shot, and both were caught at the scene. The goods, worth ₱12,090.00, were recovered.
The appeal
Valenzuela asked the Supreme Court to lower his conviction to frustrated theft.
Issue
Is there a crime of frustrated theft under the Revised Penal Code?
Ruling
No. Theft can only be attempted or consummated. The petition was denied.
Unlawful taking is complete from the moment the offender gains possession of the thing, even if he has no opportunity to dispose of it. Valenzuela had already taken possession of the detergent, so the theft was consummated even though he was stopped before he could get away. The Court declined to adopt earlier Court of Appeals rulings that had treated similar acts as frustrated theft.
“We thus conclude that under the Revised Penal Code, there is no crime of frustrated theft.”
Doctrine
“…unlawful taking, or apoderamiento, is deemed complete from the moment the offender gains possession of the thing, even if he has no opportunity to dispose of the same.” Under Article 308 of the Revised Penal Code, “theft cannot have a frustrated stage. Theft can only be attempted or consummated.”
Bar tip
For the stage of theft, ask one question: did the offender gain possession of the property? If yes, the theft is consummated, even if he was caught at once and never disposed of it. Frustrated theft is never the answer.
Watch it explained
Nahuli Bago Makalabas ng Mall — Frustrated Theft Ba?
This digest is general legal information for education, not legal advice, and it is not a substitute for reading the decision. Quoted passages are taken word for word from the full text.