FOZ VS PEOPLE Facts:

Petitioners Vicente Foz, Jr. and Danny G. Fajardo were charged with the crime
of libel for having portrayed Dr. Portigo in a certain article entitled MEET DR.
PORTIGO, COMPANY PHYSICIAN.
Upon being arraigned on March 1, 1995, petitioners, assisted by counsel de
parte, pleaded not guilty to the crime charged in the Information. Trial
thereafter ensued.
On December 4, 1997, the RTC rendered its Decision finding petitioners
guilty as charged. The dispositive portion of the Decision reads:
WHEREFORE, in the light of the facts obtaining and the jurisprudence
aforecited, JUDGMENT is hereby rendered finding both accused Danny Fajardo
and Vicente Foz, Jr. GUILTY BEYOND REASONABLE DOUBT for the crime of
Libel defined in Article 353 and punishable under Article 355 of the Revised
Penal

Code,

hereby

sentencing

aforenamed

accused

to

suffer

an

indeterminate penalty of imprisonment of Three (3) Months and Eleven (11)

Days of Arresto Mayor, as Minimum, to One (1) Year, Eight (8) Months and
TwentyOne (21) Days of Prision Correccional, as Maximum, and to pay a fine
of P1,000.00 each.
ISSUE:
Whether or not the RTC of Iloilo City, Branch 23, had jurisdiction over the
offense of libel as charged in the Information dated October 17, 1994.

RULING:

NO.Venue in criminal cases is an essential element of jurisdiction. The

Court held in Macasaet v. People that:
It is a fundamental rule that for jurisdiction to be acquired by courts in
criminal cases the offense should have been committed or any one of its
essential ingredients took place within the territorial jurisdiction of the court.
Territorial jurisdiction in criminal cases is the territory where the court has
jurisdiction to take cognizance or to try the offense allegedly committed
therein by the accused. Thus, it cannot take jurisdiction over a person
charged with an offense allegedly committed outside of that limited territory.
Furthermore, the jurisdiction of a court over the criminal case is
determined by the allegations in the complaint or information. And
once it is so shown, the court may validly take cognizance of the
case. However, if the evidence adduced during the trial show that the
offense was committed somewhere else, the court should dismiss the action
for want of jurisdiction. (Emphasis supplied.)
Article 360 of the Revised Penal Code, as amended by Republic Act No. 4363,
provides the specific rules as to the venue in cases of written defamation, to
wit:
Article 360. Persons responsible.Any person who shall publish, exhibit or
cause the publication or exhibition of any defamation in writing or by similar
means, shall be responsible for the same.
The author or editor of a book or pamphlet, or the editor or business manager
of a daily newspaper, magazine or serial publication, shall be responsible for
the defamations contained therein to the same extent as if he were the

author thereof.
The criminal action and civil action for damages in cases of written
defamations, as provided for in this chapter shall be filed simultaneously or
separately with the court of first instance of the province or city where the
libelous article is printed and first published or where any of the
offended parties actually resides at the time of the commission of
the offense: Provided, however, That where one of the offended parties is a
public officer whose office is in the City of Manila at the time of the
commission of the offense, the action shall be filed in the Court of First
Instance of the City of Manila or of the city or province where the libelous
article is printed and first published, and in case such public officer does not
hold office in the City of Manila, the action shall be filed in the Court of First
Instance of the province or city where he held office at the time of the
commission of the offense or where the libelous article is printed and first
published and in case one of the offended parties is a private individual, the
action shall be filed in the Court of First Instance of the province or city where
he actually resides at the time of the commission of the offense or where the
libelous matter is printed and first published x x x. (Emphasis supplied.)
Applying the foregoing law to this case, since Dr. Portigo is a private
individual at the time of the publication of the alleged libelous article, the
venue of the libel case may be in the province or city where the libelous
article was printed and first published, or in the province where Dr. Portigo
actually resided at the time of the commission of the offense.
The allegations in the Information that Panay News, a daily publication with a
considerable circulation in the City of Iloilo and throughout the region only

showed that Iloilo was the place where Panay News was in considerable
circulation but did not establish that the said publication was printed and first
published in Iloilo City.
Article 360 of the Revised Penal Code as amended provides that a private
individual may also file the libel case in the RTC of the province where he
actually resided at the time of the commission of the offense. The
Information filed against petitioners failed to allege the residence of Dr.
Portigo. While the Information alleges that Dr. Edgar Portigo is a physician
and medical practitioner in Iloilo City.
Such allegation did not clearly and positively indicate that he was actually
residing in Iloilo City at the time of the commission of the offense. It is
possible that Dr. Portigo was actually residing in another place.
Settled is the rule that jurisdiction of a court over a criminal case is
determined by the allegations of the complaint or information, and the
offense must have been committed or any one of its essential ingredients
took place within the territorial jurisdiction of the court. Considering that the
Information failed to allege the venue requirements for a libel case under
Article 360, the Court finds that the RTC of Iloilo City had no jurisdiction to
hear this case. Thus, its decision convicting petitioners of the crime of libel
should be set aside for want of jurisdiction without prejudice to its filing with
the court of competent jurisdiction.