LEGAL RESEARCH

3rd Assignment(August 30, 2014)

Objective/s:

To enable the students to identify the factual and legal issues in a given set of facts and to find the applicable laws, rules and jurisprudence.

Instructions:

Prepare a 5-page legal opinion addressed to the client and draft a 2-page counter-affidavit.

Facts

Val Te, a resident of General Santos City, is employed as the Account Officer of Renz Royale Bank of the Philippines. He is assigned at the bank’s General Santos City branch. As the Account Officer, Val is tasked to screen and evaluate the credit-worthiness of clients who apply for loan at the branch and to recommend his favorable findings to the Head Office in Makati City for approval.

In the course of performing his function, Val was requested by the marketing officer of the bank, Jovannie, to fast track the approval of the credit line application of one of the bank’s valued client, John Peter. Finding that John Peter’s application would not be approved on time, on January 21, 2014, Val scanned the signature of Mark, another valued client of the bank with an approved credit line in the amount of P250 Million, and printed the same on a blank promissory note to make it appear that Mark signed the same. Then, Val wrote in the said promissory note the amount of P10 Million, the amount needed by John Peter for his additional capital in his import-export business, and sent the same through email to the Head Office, with a request for its approval, on the same day. The Chief of the Loans Division at the Head Office approved the request and communicated her approval also through email, also on the same day.

Upon confirming the approval, Val forwarded the e-mail to the Loans Technical Services Group, based in Makati City, for the transfer of the funds to the account of Mark. Upon confirming the transfer of the funds to the account of Mark, on January 22, 2014, Val made use of Mark’s pre-signed application for the issuance of manager’s check and wrote the amount of P10 Million, and named John Peter as the payee. Based on the said application, the Branch Manager, Dexter, issued a manager’s check. The check was thereafter deposited in the account of John Peter, in the same bank.

John Peter never knew that the fund released to him was taken from the credit line of Mark. He thought that his application was approved. Since then, he faithfully paid to the bank in monthly installments at a specified interest rate.

The bank discovered the unauthorized lending to John Peter. While Val was attending the personnel’s training at the Head Office in Makati City, he was invited to another room for the supposed evaluation of his performance. He was however subjected to an interrogation by the bank officers and lawyers and was made to execute a written admission about the unauthorized lending. Thereafter, he was brought to the Police Station and was detained.

The bank filed a criminal complaint against Val at the City Prosecutor’s Office of Makati City for Qualified Theft through Falsification of Commercial Documents in relation to the Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012. The complaint was executed by Venus Rah, the Chief of the Fraud Investigation Division of the bank. The bank argues that the crime of qualified theft was consummated by the debiting and crediting of the amount in Makati City and that Val violated the Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012 through the commission of data interference and computer-related forgery, thus justifying the filing of the complaint in Makati City. The bank further argues that because all employees of the bank have assigned e-mail addresses and passwords stored at the bank’s server, they are all virtually based at the head office.

Val’s wife, Shamcey, comes to you to engage your services as a defense counsel. You are asked to render a legal opinion on his case, particularly on the remedies and defenses available to him.

Prepare a five-page legal opinion and assuming that the facts narrated above are the same facts alleged in the complaint, prepare a two-page counter-affidavit.

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Paper size: 8.5" x 13"

STILL, APPLY THE EFFICIENT USE OF PAPER RULE. IN NO CASE, HOWEVER, SHALL YOUR WORK EXCEED SEVEN (7) PAGES. WARNING: SOME OF YOU FAILED TO COMPLY WITH THIS REQUIREMENT IN YOUR PREVIOUS ASSIGNMENT.

THIS IS AN INDIVIDUAL TASK; STRICTLY NO COPYING OF YOUR CLASSMATE’S WORK.

DEADLINE FOR SUBMISSION:

For printed copy : September 13, 2014 @ 6pm For the soft copy : September 13, 2014 @ 10am (must be sent to

jr_speaks@yahoo.com)