It  appears that  prior to  the commencement of  this prosecution the city of Manila, by its Municipal Board, had ordered to be torn down a number of houses whose location the health authorities of the  city had declared to be unsanitary for the  occupants,  and the removal of said houses to the lands of the San Lazaro Estate, there to be reconstructed.  In consideration  of its act of enforced removal of  said houses  the city  agreed with the owners thereof that it would furnish and pay  the workmen  required for the tearing down, removal, and reconstruction of said houses and would furnish and pay for all new materials used in such  reconstruction.   To carry out this order and agreement the city  issued to  each owner of a house so to be torn down and removed  a certificate or permit containing the name of the owner, a  description of the house,  and the agreement to remove and reconstruct gratis.  Among the certificates, or permits,  or agreements, was one issued to Severino  Pelagio, dated  January 18, 1909.  About the time  that the  house  was to  be torn  down and removed to San Lazaro, Severino sold  and transferred  said house, together with all  of  his  rights under said  certificate or agreement, to the wife of the accused in this case, including the right to  have  the house rebuilt at the expense of the city.  The instrument of transfer bears date the 12th of March, 1909.  In rebuilding the said houses, the city hired the carpenters and the time they worked was kept daily by the accused, who was  their foreman.  Among the carpenters so hired by the city was one, Segundo Castro, who was engaged in rebuilding the  house  formerly  owned  by said Severino  Pelagio  and  transferred  to  the accused. Castro worked in the reconstruction of this house from the 15th of April to the 23d of April, inclusive.  The charge against the accused is that he reported  Castro  upon his time book as working for the city when in reality he was working for the accused, and that  he thereby sought to defraud the city of the sum which it would have paid for such labor.

The accused was charged in the Court of First Instance of Manila with the crime of falsification of a public document by a public official,  was  duly tried thereon, convicted and sentenced to twelve years and  one day of cadena temporal  He appealed.

It appears from "the facts as detailed above that there was an entire absence of criminal intent on the part of the accused.  If the right of Severino Pelagio to have his house rebuilt at the expense of the city, both as to workmen and materials, was a  transferable right, a question we do not here decide, then that right passed to the  accused. Whether  or  not  that  right  passed  by the  transfer,  the accused evidently believed it did and acted upon that belief without attempt at concealment or evasion.  Accordingly, believing that the city was in duty bound to rebuild the house which his wife had purchased of Severino, he saw no more harm or wrong  in charging against the  city the time spent by the carpenter Castro in rebuilding it than in charging against the city the time  spent by other carpenters who were rebuilding the other houses that had been removed under exactly the same circumstances.

While the methods pursued by the defendant are subject to criticism and were very properly objected to by the city, we are of the opinion  that he should be  dealt with civilly or administratively rather than criminally.

The judgment  of the  court below  is  hereby  reversed, the defendant acquitted  and his discharge from custody ordered;  costs de oflcio.

Arellano, C. J., Torres, Mapa, Johnson, and Carson, JJ., concur.