ROMERO ESTRELLA y DE VENECIA v. Hon. G. JESUS B.

RUIZ and Provincial

Fiscal FLORENTINO DE LA PEA
G.R. No. L-38621. August 30, 1974. SECOND DIVISION (Fernandez, J.)

Facts

An owner jeep with a trailer driven by herein petitioner and a motorized tricycle
driven by Dante Custodio, both coming from opposite directions on the national
highway of Barrio Ugac, Tuguegarao, Cagayan, collided with each other; and, as
a result, one of the passengers sustained fatal injuries, three others were injured,
and the two vehicles were damaged.

The accident was investigated by a police officer of the Tuguegarao Police

Department, and, thereafter, a complaint for "Homicide through Reckless
Imprudence" against petitioner was filed before the Municipal Court. The latter
did not conduct any preliminary investigation on the basis of a "Waiver" signed by
the petitioner.

Petitioner filed a complaint in the Office of the Provincial Fiscal against Dante
Custodio for "Criminal Negligence Resulting to Homicide, with Multiple Physical
Injuries and Damage to Property."

Petitioner requested the Provincial Fiscal (PF) to conduct a reinvestigation of the

complaint filed against him and the preliminary investigation of the complaint
filed by him against Custodio. The PF granted the request and directed Assistant
PF Guiyab, Jr. to conduct an investigation of both cases.

After investigation, the PF filed an information for "Homicide with Multiple

Physical Injuries and Damage to Property through Reckless Imprudence" against
both petitioner and Custodio before the CFI of Cagayan. Petitioner was arraigned
and he pleaded not guilty to the charge.

Petitioner filed a motion to dismiss the case, on the ground that the information
was invalid because the certification of the Fiscal with respect to the preliminary
investigation conducted by him was limited to his co-accused Custodio.

The respondent Judge denied the motion and the motion for reconsideration which
was filed afterwards, but directed the Office of the PF to reinvestigate the
complaint with respect to petitioner.

Hence, petitioner filed a petition for a writ of certiorari and prohibition with
preliminary injunction before the SC, praying that the order of the CFI Cagayan
denying his motion to dismiss, be annulled and that, PF De la Pea and Judge
 Ruiz be prohibited from proceeding with the reinvestigation of the case and from
hearing the same.

Issue

W/N the information filed against petitioner and Custodio is invalid, in so far as he
is concerned, because the certification of the investigating fiscal embodied at the
bottom of the information referred to Custodio alone

Ruling

No.

In People v. Marquez, the SC held that notwithstanding the absence of a

certification as to the holding of a preliminary investigation in the information,
the information is valid because such certification is not an essential part of the
information itself and its absence cannot vitiate it as such.

Section 3 of Rule 110 defines an information as nothing more than an accusation

in writing charging a person with an offense subscribed by the fiscal and filed with
the court. Thus, it is obvious that such certification is not an essential part of the
information itself and its absence cannot vitiate it as such. What is not allowed is
the filing of the information without a preliminary investigation having been
previously conducted, and the injunction that there should be a certification is
only a consequence of the requirement that a preliminary investigation should
first be conducted.

Inasmuch as the settled doctrine in this jurisdiction is that the right to the
preliminary investigation itself must be asserted or invoked before the plea,
otherwise, it is deemed waived it stands to reason, that the absence of the
certification in question is also waived by failure to allege it before the plea.

Petitioner did not question the validity of the information on the ground of
defective certification before he entered a plea of not guilty. He filed his motion to
quash only thereafter. Consequently, when he entered a plea of not guilty, he
thereby waived all objections that are grounds for a motion to quash, except lack
of jurisdiction or failure of the information to charge an offense; specifically, he
waived his right to a preliminary investigation.

While it is true that the certification mentioned only Custodio, petitioner did not
deny the fact that a reinvestigation of the case filed against him and of his own
complaint against Custodio, have been ordered investigated by the PF. The
Assistant PF to whom the investigation of said two cases had been assigned, must
have conducted the necessary reinvestigation of the case against the petitioner
and the investigation of the case filed by him against Dante Custodio. And the
Comment of the respondent Fiscal clearly states that he concurred with the
 findings of the investigating Fiscal that there is prima facie evidence against both
respondents. As a matter of fact, petitioners objects to the holding of another
reinvestigation insofar as the case against him is concerned, as ordered by the
respondent Judge. Petitioner, therefore, cannot say that there is no basis for
accusing him along with Dante Custodio. The basis thereof is not a certification
that a preliminary investigation has been held, but more so, the actual holding
thereof.

WHEREFORE, finding no error in the order of the respondent Judge denying

petitiones motion to dismiss, the herein petition is hereby dismissed with the
modification that a new reinvestigation of the complaint need not to be made, without
pronouncement as to costs.