The defendant, who was the municipal treasurer of Barugo,  Province of  Leyte, was convicted by the  Court of First  Instance of the  said province  of the crime of the falsification of a public document.

This falsification  was alleged to consist in his  having signed, at the foot  of a municipal pay roll,  Exhibit B, the printed part thereof which reads thus: "I  certify under official oath that the preceding pay roll  is correct, that the services have  been  rendered  and the payments  made as stated," while in fact V. A.  Penaranda, as municipal secretary at a salary of P33,  and Bibiano Avestruz, as  clerk to the president  at a  salary  of P20,  did  not render the services as  stated in the said pay roll.

The  Attorney-General, who  prays  for the acquittal  of the defendant, the appellant, firmly bases his petition  on the following argument:

"It is an undisputed fact that Venturito Penaranda and Bibiano Avestruz  were duly  appointed and  qualified  as municipal secretary and clerk to the municipal president of Barugo, respectively,  when the pay roll, Exhibit B, was made out,  and were,  really or apparently, discharging the duties of their offices on  that  date; that the services  of municipal  secretary and clerk to the municipal president were rendered at  the time referred to in the pay roll, and  that Venturito Penaranda and Bibiano Avestruz received their respective salaries from the appellant.  The latter's certification was an embodiment of these facts, and consequently, it may not be said that he was untruthful in the narration of the facts.  The defendant certified that the services of  municipal secretary were rendered, and this was the truth."

Since what the defendant certified to was the truth,  as proved at the trial, with respect to Venturito Penaranda, by documents signed by the latter as such municipal secretary of Barugo,  he did  not pervert  the truth, and the charge falls to the ground.

It is not the mission of the municipal  treasurer to take upon  himself to investigate whether the persons  who are accredited  to him as  secretary and clerk by the municipal council and whom he, in turn, acknowledges and pays their monthly salaries, really or apparently discharge the duties of these positions.

The judgment appealed from is reversed and Esteban  T. Balais is acquitted, with the costs of both  instances de oficio.  So  ordered.

Torres, Mapa, Johnson, Carson, Moreland, and Trent, JJ., concur.