Professional Documents
Culture Documents
- 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
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