Judge Mae Lizbeth Williams of MTCC Danao City acquitted Ernesto Herrera II and his wife, Vanessa, of estafa over a Kambal Pandesal bakery venture after prosecutors failed to prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.
Longtime friends Neil Richard and Janice Kintanar accused the couple of under-declaring profits and shutting them out after both parties each contributed P175,000 to the partnership in June 2015.
The court ruled no estafa occurred because the P175,000 went directly to the supplier rather than held in trust, stating the partnership dispute is strictly civil in nature.
PROSECUTORS failed to prove that a couple swindled their longtime friends in a bakery franchise venture, a Danao City court ruled in acquitting them of estafa.
Judge Mae Lizbeth Williams of the Municipal Trial Court in Cities (MTCC) in Danao City acquitted businessman and former Cebu City council aspirant Ernesto Herrera II and his wife, Vanessa, of estafa.
Williams said internal business disputes and failed partnerships belong in civil court, not in criminal proceedings, adding also that the prosecution did not prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.
Complaint
Herrera, son of the late senator Ernesto Herrera, ran for a seat in the Cebu City council in 2019 but lost. Neil Richard Kintanar and his wife, Janice, filed the complaint on Feb. 8, 2019.
The Kintanars, friends of the Herreras for more than 30 years, said they entered into a verbal partnership with the couple in June 2015 to run a Kambal Pandesal bakery franchise inside Cebu Mitsumi Inc. in Barangay Sabang, Danao City. Each couple put up P175,000, and the Kintanars accused Ernesto of under-declaring profits and shutting them out of the business.
The Herreras voluntarily surrendered in a mall along General Maxilom Ave., Cebu City, on Tuesday, Feb. 7, 2023, after Williams issued a warrant of arrest.
Both pleaded not guilty at their arraignment on March 28, 2023.
Herreras’ defense
Ernesto testified that he regarded the bakery as his own business and signed franchise agreements with San Miguel Mills Inc. as sole proprietor.
Court records showed he paid the Kintanars P1,420,000 between August 2015 and October 2018 and kept P1,085,000.
Ernesto said the Kintanars’ P175,000 went straight to San Miguel Mills Inc. to cover franchise fees.
Ruling
Williams said estafa requires that the accused received money in trust and misappropriated it. Because the P175,000 went directly to the supplier, the spouses never held it in trust, she said.
She also found no evidence linking Vanessa to the store’s operations.
The judge acknowledged that the Kintanars were hurt by the betrayal of a long friendship, but said “the breach of trust in their partnership is only civil in nature.” / ABC