THE Supreme Court has found two store managers of a pizza restaurant in Angono, Rizal, guilty of theft for withholding the service charges that should have been paid to their employees.
In a 12-page decision promulgated last April 2, 2025, the High Court’s Second Division found Shakey’s-Angono, Rizal managers Janice Teologo and Jennifer Delos Santos guilty of simple theft.
“Petitioners Janice L. Teologo and Jennifer Delos Santos are found guilty beyond a reasonable doubt of the crime of theft, and consequently, are sentenced to suffer imprisonment for a straight period of six months of arresto mayor,” the SC ruling penned by Associate Justice Antonio Kho Jr. said.
“Petitioners are further ordered to pay jointly and severally Mark Christopher Quetua and Ingimar Buenaventura the amounts of P6,316.78 and P3,252.98, respectively, with legal interest at the rate of 6 percent per annum from the date of finality of this decision until full payment,” it said.
The case stemmed from a complaint by Shakey’s-Angono branch employees that they were not receiving their share of service charges.
Although the managers claimed it was due to company policy, employees were still made to sign payroll documents indicating they had received the money.
The employees sued Teologo and Delos Santos and two other store managers, Diony Mesina and Jedalyn Mira, before the Regional Trial Court of Binangonan, Rizal.
Mesina and Mira remain at large.
The RTC, in a ruling dated December 23, 2014, convicted the two store managers for qualified theft, a conviction upheld by the Court of Appeals in a decision dated May 18, 2017 and a resolution on March 21, 2018.
Teologo and Delos Santos elevated the case to the SC, but the latter affirmed the CA findings with modification, finding them guilty only of simple theft.
Under the Revised Penal Code, theft happens when someone takes something that belongs to another without permission, intending to benefit from it, without using violence or force.
Concurring with the decision were Senior Associate Justice Marvic Leonen and Associate Justices Amy Lazaro-Javier, Mario Lopez, and Jhosep Lopez.
