Professional Documents
Culture Documents
regarding
qualifying
and
aggravating
amendment
and
order. (Teehankee Jr. vs. Madayag, et al. G.R. No. 103102, March 6,
1992)
10.
When may the complaint or information be amended
without leave of court? with leave of court?
A complaint or information may be amended in form or in
substance without leave of court, at any time before the accused
enters his plea.
After the plea and during the trial, formal amendment may only
be made with leave of court.
Before the plea, however, any amendment that downgrades the
nature of the offense charged in or excludes any accused from the
complaint or information can be made only upon motion by the
prosecutor, with notice to the offended party, and with leave of court.
(Ref: Section 14)
11.
If the accused has already been arraigned, may the
prosecution still amend the complaint or information to change
the date of the commission of the offense?
Yes, because the allegation of the date of the commission of the
offense is merely a matter of form Section 11, Rule 110 provides that it
is not necessary to state in the complaint or information the precise
date the offense was committed. The exception is when the date or
time is a material ingredient of the offense in which case the
amendment will be considered substantial and therefore, will not be
allowed after the accused has already been arraigned. (Ref: Gablonza
vs. CA, G.R. No. 140311, March 30, 2001)
12.
X is charged with serious physical injuries and the case is
filed with the MTC. Later, the prosecution sought to amend the
information to charge frustrated murder, alleging intent to kill.
The MTC judge denied the amendment and ordered the
prosecution to present its evidence. When the case was
submitted for decision, the judge found out that there really
was intent to kill. The judge then dismissed the case to give
way to the filing of an information for frustrated murder with
the RTC. Is the dismissal of the case correct?
The dismissal of the case is not correct. The MTC judge should
not have decided the case as originally filed. The information cannot
criminal case, but any case of action which could have been the
subject thereof may be litigated in a separate civil action.
The old rules of criminal procedure did not contain a similar
provision prohibiting the filing of counterclaim, cross claim, third-party
complaint in criminal actions. But the rule was the same even then. So
it was that in Cabaero et al. vs. Cantos, G.R. No. 102942, April 18,
1997, the Supreme Court, in holding that the accused cannot set-up a
counterclaim, Cross-claim, or third-party complaint in the same
criminal case noted that while the rules on civil procedure expressly
recognized a defendants entitlement to plead his counterclaim and
offer evidence in support thereof the rules on criminal procedure which
authorize the implied institution of a civil action in criminal case are in
contrast, silent on this point and do not provide specific guidelines on
how such counterclaim shall be pursued.
5 What are the rules on the payment of filing fees in the
instances where the civil action is deemed instituted with the
criminal action?
a) When the amount of damages, other than actual, is alleged in the
complaint or information, then the corresponding filing fees shall be
paid by the offended party upon the filing thereof in court for trial.
b) When the offended party seeks to enforce civil liability against the
accused by way of moral, nominal, or exemplary damages without
specifying the amount thereof in the complaint the filing fees
therefore shall constitute a first lien on the judgment awarding such
damages. (Ref: Section 1)
In Manuel vs. Alleche Jr., G.R. No. 115683, July 26, 1996, citing
General vs. Claravall, 195 SCRA 623, it was held that when the
amount of damages is not alleged in the complaint or information,
the corresponding filing does not need to be paid and shall simply
constitute a first lien in the judgment, except in an award for actual
damages. This applies where the judgment awards a claim not
specified and/or nominal damages but has not specified any amount
at all leaving the quantification thereof entirely to the trial courts
discretion.
c) A criminal action for violation of BP 22 shall be deemed to include
the corresponding civil action. No reservation to file such civil action
shall be allowed. Upon the filing of the joint criminal action, the
offended party shall pay in full the filing fees based on the amount
of check involved, which shall be considered as the actual damages
directly arising from and based solely on the offense committed, i.e.
civil liability ex delicto in senso strictiore.
b) Corollarily, the claim for civil liability survives notwithstanding the
death of accused, if the same may also be predicated on a source of
obligation other than delict. Article 1157 of the Civil Code
enumerates these other sources of obligation from which the civil
liability may arise as a result of the same act or omission: (a) law,
(b) contracts, (c) quasi-contracts, (d) xxx, (e) quasi-delicts.
c) Where the civil liability survives as explained in No. (b) above, an
action for recovery therefore may be pursued but only by way of
filing a separate civil action and subject to Section 1, Rule 111. This
separate civil action may be enforced either against the
executor/administrator or the estate of the accused depending on
the source of obligation upon which the same is based as explained
above.
d) Finally, the private offended party need not fear a forfeiture of his
right to file this separate civil action by prescription in cases where
during the prosecution of the criminal action and prior to its
extinction, the private offended party instituted together therewith
the civil action. In such a case the statute of limitation on the civil
liability is deemed interrupted during the pendency of the criminal
case, conformably with the provisions of Article 1155 of the Civil
Code; that should avoid any apprehension on a possible privation of
right by prescription.
Section 4 of the Revised Rules of Criminal Procedure already mentions the
effect of the death of the accused on his civil liability as follows:
a) If the accused dies after arraignment and during the pendency of the
criminal action, his death shall extinguish the civil liability arising from
the delict (or crime).
b) If he dies before arraignment, the case shall be discussed without any
prejudice to any civil action the offended party may file against the
estate of the deceased. [RUAs opinion; the civil action adverted to
here refers to a civil action not arising from the delict (or crime),
because civil action arising from delict (or crime) is likewise
extinguished if the accused dies before arraignment.]
Note that independency with action and civil actions to enforce civil
liability arising from other sources of obligation i.e. law, contracts,
quasi-contracts, or quasi-delicts, are not affected by death of the
accused, and such civil actions may be continued against the estate or
RULE 112
PRELIMINARY INVESTIGATION
1 What is preliminary investigation?
Preliminary investigation is an inquiry or proceeding to determine
whether there is sufficient ground to engender a well-founded belief
that a crime punishable by imprisonment of at least 4 years 2 months
and 1 day, without regard to the fine, has been committed and the
respondent is probably guilty thereof and should be held for trial.