Sunday, March 8, 2015

Bouncing checks




"x x x.
The gravamen of the offense punishable by BP 22 is the act of making and issuing a worthless check or a check that is dishonored upon its presentation for payment. It is not the nonpayment of an obligation which the law punishes. The law is not intended or designed to coerce a debtor to pay his debt. The thrust of the law is to prohibit, under the pain of penal sanctions, the making of worthless checks and putting them in circulation. Because of its deleterious effects on the public interest, the practice is proscribed by law. The law punishes the act not as offense against property, but an offense against public order. Lozano v. Martinez, G.R. No. L-63419, 18 December 1986, 146 SCRA 323, 338. (emphasis supplied)
x x x."