estafa case

Good day atty! I was filed an estafa case for the amount of P520,000. The meditiation sa korte failed kasi ayaw talaga ng complainant mag accept ng installment payment basis, kasi dinedemand niya is 200k or else e balik niya sa court. Nag JDR na kami , the judge told me to try to come up with 200k in spite na sinasabi ko impossible sa akin kasi single parent ako with 4 children and ang income ko is sufficient lang sa needs namin. The last hearing nag appear ako but wala yung complainant. Nagsabi ang lawyer niya na nakabigay na ako ng 45k so nag sabi ang judge na pagbalik niyo mag submit kayo ng written agreement sa June 7. The complainant's lawyer texted me last Monday ( June 4 ) na ayaw talaga mag accept ng client niya ng 45k lang .. nagsabi daw ako na 300k so nag reply ako sa lawyer na wala akong sinabi na 300k and i never tried to contact the complainant outside of the court. Sinabi ng lawyer na sa June 7 baka makabigay ako para maging 100k and he will try to convince his client na e accept and which is too soon for me at d ko talaga kaya for now.

Atty, what can you advice? I have showed my interest to pay but not the whole amount kasi wala akong makuhaan ng additional sa 100k at saka impossible sa akin na 200k makabigay ako. Mag fafail ba ang JDR nito? pag nag pursige talaga ang complainant makukulong ba ako sa estafa or magiging civil case ito?

I would greatly appreciate that you could give me your thoughts about this para magkaroon ako ng ideas how to solve this.

Thank you po

It is the prerogative of the complainant whether to accept partial payments.

The essence of estafa is either deceit or abuse of confidence. If JDR fails, the case goes to trial, and the prosecution is able to prove your guilt beyond reasonable doubt, you will be convicted - the order of the court will give you a prison sentence and mandate you to pay the money that you took through either deceit or abuse of confidence.

However, even if you are innocent, there still might be a finding to hold you civilly liable to pay.

The only convenience in agreeing to the settlement now is you do not have to worry about whether you will go to jail - because there is a 50% chance that you might be convicted. That and the fact that you will not be bothered with more court dates.

How about the bail bond? Could that not be part of the settlement?

Thank you for the respond atty. I posted a surety bond because during that time, I didn't have money to pay a cash bond.