You are on page 1of 2

- Estipona charged with violation of RA 9165 for possession of meth (shabu)

- June 15, 2016 - Estipona filed “motion to allow accused to enter into a plea bargaining
agreement”
o He argued that Sec. 23 of RA 9165 prohibiting plea-bargaining violates rule-making
authority of SC under Sec. 5, Art. VIII, Constitution
- RTC judge denied motion

o While plea bargaining forms part of the Rules on CrimPro and Sec 23, RA 9165
encroaches on the exclusive constitutional power of the SC to promulgate rules of
procedure, it is expressly mandated in the RA that plea bargaining is prohibited
- Aware that lower courts must observe modesty in examining constitutional questions

Issues

W/N Sec 23, RA 9165 is violative of Sec 5(5), Art VIII, Constitution - YES

Held/Ratio

- Power to promulgate rules of pleading, practice and procedure is the exclusive domain and
no longer shared with executive and legislative departments
- 1987 Constitution took away power of Congress to repeal, alter or supplement rules
concerning pleading, practice and procedure
- Procedural rules neither create nor takes away a vested right
o Means to implement an existing right by regulating the judicial process for
enforcing rights and duties recognized by substantive law and for justly
administering remedy and redress for a disregard or infraction of them

PLEA BARGAIN

- Process whereby the accused and prosecution work out a mutually 
satisfactory
disposition of the case subject to court approval 

- Essence of agreement is that prosecution and defense make concessions 
to avoid
potential losses 

- Considered to be an essential and highly desirable component of 
administration of
justice 

- For defendant who sees slight possibility of acquittal, plea bargain limits 
probable
penalty → correctional processes can begin immediately, 
practical burdens of trial are
eliminated 

- Defendant avoids extended pretrial incarceration and anxieties and 
uncertainties of a
trial 

- Leads to prompt and largely final disposition of most criminal cases 

- Encouraged because chief virtues of the system — speed, economy, finality — benefit the
accused, offended party, prosecution and the court

RIGHT TO PLEA BARGAIN

- Defendant has no constitutional right to plea bargain 



- No basic rights are infringed by trying him rather than accepting a plea of 
guilty 

- The acceptance of an offer to plead guilty is not a demandable right but 
depends on the
consent of the offended party and prosecutor, which is a condition precedent to a valid plea
of guilty 

o Prosecutor's duty is to prosecute proper offense, not any lesser or graver one,
based on what the evidence can sustain

WHEN ALLOWED

- Discretion of trial court which may allow accused to plead guilty to a lesser 
offense which
is necessarily included in the offense charged 

- Not supposed to be allowed as a matter of bargaining or compromise for 
the
convenience of the accused 

- Allowed during arraignment, pre-trial, up to point when prosecution already 
rested its
case 

- If accused moved to pled guilty after bail hearing, rules allow such a plea 
only when
prosecution does not have sufficient evidence to establish guilt of crime charged 


You might also like