CRIMINAL PROCEDURE

Rule 110 PROSECUTION of Offenses

1. General Rule: MTC and RTC courts gain jurisdiction over the offense upon
the filing of complaint by a complainant or an information by the prosecuting
officer

à Court gains jurisdiction over the person of the accused upon arrest or
surrender; such jurisdiction once gained cannot be lost even if accused
escapes (Gimenez vs. Nazareno)

à Jurisdiction of the court over the offense is determined at the time of the
institution of the action and is retained even if the penalty for the offense is
later lowered or raised (People vs. Lagon)

2. Complaint – sworn written statement charging a person with an offense,

subscribed by the offended party, any peace officer or other public official
charged with the enforcement of the law violated

Information – accusation in writing charging a person with an offense,

subscribed by the fiscal and filed with the court

3. Complaint and Information distinguished:

Complaint Information
A sworn statement Need not be sworn to
Subscribed by the offended party, Subscribed to by the fiscal
any peace officer or other officer
charged with the enforcement of the
law violated
May be filed either with the court or Filed with the court
in the fiscal’s office generally to
commence the preliminary
investigation of the charges made
4. Cases where civil courts of equal rank are vested with concurrent
jurisdiction:

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 1. Features stated in Art. 2, RPC

à Cognizable by proper court in which charge is first filed

1. Continuing crimes committed in different judicial regions

2. Offenses wherein any of the essential elements were committed in
different territorial jurisdictions
3. Offenses committed aboard a train, vehicle, aircraft or vessel (see R110,
§15)

i. Railroad, train, aircraft

(1) Territory or municipality where vehicle passed

(2) Place of departure

(3) Place of arrival

ii. Vessel

(1) First port of entry

(2) Thru which it passed during voyage

e. Libel and written defamation

5. Remedies of offended party when fiscal unreasonably refuses to file an

information or include a person therein as an accused

1. In case of grave abuse of discretion, action for mandamus

2. Lodge a new complaint against the offenders
3. Take up matter with the Secretary of Justice
4. Institute administrative charges against the erring fiscal
5. File criminal charges under Art. 208, RPC (prosecution of offenses)
6. File civil action under Art. 27, NCC for damages (PO refuses or neglects
to perform official duty)

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 7. Secure appointment of another fiscal
8. Institute another criminal action if no double jeopardy is involved

6. Writs of injunction or prohibition to restrain a criminal prosecution are not

available, EXCEPT

1. To afford adequate protection to constitutional rights of accused

2. Necessary for the orderly administration of justice or to avoid oppression
or multiplicity of actions
3. Pre-judicial question which is sub judice
4. Acts of the officer are without or in excess of authority
5. Prosecution is under an invalid law, ordinance or regulation
6. Double jeopardy is clearly apparent
7. Court has no jurisdiction over the case
8. Case of persecution rather than prosecution
9. Charges are manifestly false and motivated by lust for vengeance
10. Clearly no prima facie case against the accused and MTQ on that ground
had been denied

7. Institution of Criminal Actions:

a. In RTC:

à By filing a complaint with the appropriate officer for the purpose of

conducting requisite preliminary investigation therein.

b. In Municipal Trial Courts and Municipal Circuit Trial Courts:

à By filing the complaint or information directly with said courts, or a

complaint with the fiscal’s office

c. In Metropolitan Trial Courts

à By filing the complaint ONLY with the office of the fiscal

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à In all 3 above cases, such institution shall interrupt the period of prescription
of the offense charged (Rule 110, §1)

d. Offenses subject to summary procedure

[i.e. (1) violation of traffic laws; (2) violation of rental laws; (3) violation of
municipal or city ordinances; and (4) criminal cases where the penalty does
not exceed 6 months or fine of P1000 or both, irrespective of other imposable
penalties and civil liabilities]

à The complaint or information shall be filed directly in court without need of

a prior preliminary examination or preliminary investigation.

à Zaldivia vs. Reyes – since a criminal case covered by the Rules of Summary
Procedure shall be deemed commenced only when it is filed in court, then the
running of the prescriptive period shall be halted on the date the case is
actually filed in court and not on any date before that.

à Reodica vs. CA – [clarifies Zaldivia above] Under Art. 91 of the RPC, the
period of prescription shall be interrupted by the filing of the complaint or
information. It does not distinguish whether the complaint is filed for
preliminary examination or investigation only, or for an action on the
merits. Thus, the filing of the complaint even with the fiscal’s office should
suspend the running of the Statute of Limitations. The ruling in Zaldivia is not
applicable to all cases subject to the Rules on Summary Procedure, since that
particular case involved a violation of an ordinance. Therefore, the applicable
law therein was not Art. 91 of the RPC, but Act No. 3326 (“An Act to Establish
Periods of Prescription for Violations Penalized by Special Acts and Municipal
Ordinances and to Provide when Prescription Shall Begin to Run”), §2 of which
provides that period of prescription is suspended only when judicial
proceedings are instituted against the guilty party.

8. Contents of information

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a. Name of the accused

à Information may be amended as to the name of the accused, but such

amendment cannot be questioned for the first time on appeal (People vs.
Guevarra)

à Error of name of the offended party: if material to the case, it necessarily

affects the identification of the act charged. Conviction for robbery cannot be
sustained if there is a variance between the allegation and the proof as to the
ownership of the property stolen.

b. Designation of offense by statute (or of section/subsection of statute

violated)

à Only one offense charged, EXCEPT where law prescribes a single

punishment for various offenses.

à If facts do not completely allege all the elements of the crime charged, the
info may be quashed; however, the prosecution is allowed to amend the info
to include the necessary facts (People vs. Purisima)

c. Acts or omissions complained of constituting the offense

à Information need only allege facts, not include all the evidence which may
be used to prove such facts (Balitaan vs. CFI)

d. Name of offended party

e. Approximate time of commission

à Approximation of time is sufficient; amendment as to time is only a formal

amendment; no need to dismiss case (People vs. Molero)

à A significant discrepancy in the time alleged cannot be sustained since such

would allow the prosecution to prove an offense distantly removed from the
alleged date, thus substantially impairing the rights of the accused to be
informed of the charges against him (People vs. Reyes)

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f. Place of commission

à Conviction may be had even if it appears that the crime was committed not
at the place alleged, provided that the place of actual commission was within
the court’s jurisdiction and accused was not surprised by the variance between
the proof and the information

à Qualifying and inherent aggravating circumstances need to be alleged as

they are integral parts of the crime. If proved, but not alleged, become only
generic aggravating circumstances.

9. Amendment of information and Substitution of information, distinguished

Amendment Substitution
Involves either formal or substantial Necessarily involves a substantial
changes change
Without leave of court if before plea Needs leave of court as original
information has to be dismissed
Where only as to form, there is no Another preliminary investigation is
need for another preliminary entailed and accused has to plead
investigation and retaking of plea of anew
accused
Refers to the same offense charged Requires or presupposes that new
or which necessarily includes or is info involves a different offense
necessarily included in original which does not include or is not
charges, hence, substantial included in the original charge,
amendments to info after plea taken hence, accused cannot claim double
cannot be made over objections of jeopardy
accused for if original info is
withdrawn, accused could invoke
double jeopardy
10. After plea, amendment only as to matters of form, provided

1. Leave of court is obtained; and

2. Amendment is not prejudicial to rights of accused

11. When amendment is only as to form

1. Neither affects or alters nature of offense charged

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 2. Charge does not deprive accused of a fair opportunity to present his
defense
3. Does not involve a change in basic theory of prosecution

12. Exceptions to rule on venue

1. Felonies in Art. 2, RPC (cognizable by proper court in which charge is first

filed)
2. Continuing offenses
3. Piracy which is triable anywhere
4. Libel (residence; or where first published)
5. In exceptional cases, to ensure fair trial and impartial inquiry

13. Special cases (who may prosecute)

a. Adultery and concubinage

à Only offended spouse can be complainant

à Both guilty parties must be included in complaint

b. Crimes against chastity

à With consent of the offended party, offended spouse, grandparents,

guardian, or state as parens patriae, in that order

à Offended party, even if minor, has right to initiate the prosecution of the
case independently of parents, grandparents or guardian, unless she is
incompetent/incapable on grounds other than minority.

à If offended party who is a minor fails to file the complaint, her parents,
grandparents or guardian may do so.

à In crimes against chastity, the consent of the victim is a jurisdictional

requirement–retraction renders the information void (People vs. Ocapan)

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à If complexed with a public crime, the provincial fiscal may sign the
complaint on his own

c. Defamation (consisting of imputation of offenses in [a] or [b])

à Complainant must be offended party

à The offended party may intervene in the prosecution of the criminal case
because of her interest in it (Banal vs. Tadeo)

14. Procedure

1. Complaint filed in MTC or info filed in RTC where an essential ingredient

of the crime took place (territorial jurisdiction)
1. Amendment as a matter of right before plea
2. Amendment upon discretion of the court after plea

à Inclusion of other accused is only a formal amendment which would not be

prejudicial to the accused and should be allowed (People vs. CA)

d. After plea and before judgment, if it appears there was a mistake in

charging proper offense, court shall dismiss original info upon the filing of a
corrected one, provided that the accused will not be placed in double jeopardy
(substitution)

à Fiscal determines direction of prosecution; complainant must ask fiscal if

he wants to dismiss the case; the motion to dismiss must be addressed to the
court which has discretion over the disposition of the case (Republic vs.
Sunga)

à Objection to the amendment of an information or complaint must be raised

at the time the amendment is made; otherwise, deemed to have consented
thereto.

15. Remedies

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a. Motion to quash

à May be filed after arraignment but before plea on the grounds provided by
the rules (generally, a flaw in the info)

à If duplicity of offense charged is not raised in trial through a motion to

quash info, the right to question it is waived (People vs. Ocapan)

b. Motion to dismiss

à May be filed after plea but before judgment on most of grounds for motion
to quash

16. Duplicity of Offense (in information or complaint)

à Defined as the joinder of separate and distinct offenses in one and the same
information/complaint

à Remedy: file a motion to quash; failure is equivalent to a waiver

à Exception: when existing laws prescribe a single punishment (complex

crimes)