AMENDING THE PERTINENT PROVISIONS OF PRESIDENTIAL DECREE NO. 1606 AND BATAS PAMBANSA BLG. 129 RELATIVE TO THE JURISDICTION OF THE SANDIGANBAYAN AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES.

WHEREAS, Batas Pambansa Blg. 129 has simplified the rules on
jurisdiction by, among- others, abolishing the concurrent jurisdiction o£ the
Sandiganbayan and the regular courts;

WHEREAS, Batas Pambansa Blg. 129 expanded the exclusive
original jurisdiction of the Sandiganbayan over the offenses enumerated in
Section 4 of Presidential Decree No. 1606 to embrace all offenses irrespective
of the imposable penalty;

WHEREAS, there has been a proliferation and marked increase
in the filing of cases before the Sandiganbayan where the offense charged is
punishable by a penalty not higher than prision correctional or its equivalent;
and

WHEREAS, to insure that the prosecution of offenses
committed by public officers and employees, including those employed in
government-owned or controlled corporations, shall be as inexpensive and as
expiditious as possible, and in keeping with the constitutional mandate
constituting the Sandiganbayan as a special court to try cases involving graft
and corruption, and other offenses committed by public officers and employees in
relation to their office, it is necessary and desirable that certain cases shall
be triable by the appropriate courts, with appellate jurisdiction over these
cases to be vested in the Sandiganbayan;

NOW, THEREFORE, I, FERDINAND E. MARCOS, President of the
Philippines, by virtue of the powers vested in me by the Constitution, do hereby
order and decree as follows:

SECTION 1. Section 4 of Presidential Decree No. 1606 is
hereby amended to read as follows:

“SEC. 4. Jurisdiction. — The Sandiganbayan shall
exercise:

“(a) Exclusive original jurisdiction in all cases involving:

1. Violations of Republic Act No. 3019, as amended, otherwise known as the
   Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act, Republic Act No. 1379, and Chapter II,
   Section 2, Title VII of the Revised Penal Code;
2. Other offenses or felonies committed by-public officers and employees in
   relation to their office, including those employed in government-owned or
   controlled corporations, whether simple or complexed with other crimes, where
   the penalty prescribed by law is higher than prision correccional or
   imprisonment for six (6) years, or a fine of P6,000.00: PROVIDED,
   HOWEVER, that offenses or felonies mentioned in this paragraph where the
   penalty prescribed by law does not exceed prision correccional or imprisonment
   for six (6) years or a fine of P6,000.00 shall be tried by the proper Regional
   Trial Court, Metropolitan Trial Court, Municipal Trial Court and Municipal
   Circuit Trial Court.

“(b) Exclusive appellate jurisdiction:

1. On appeal, from the final judgments, resolutions or orders of the Regional
   Trial Courts in cases originally decided by them in their respective territorial
   jurisdiction.
2. By petition for review, from the final judgments, resolutions or orders of
   the Regional Trial Courts in the exercise of their appellate jurisdiction over
   cases originally decided by the Metropolitan Trial Courts, Municipal Trial
   Courts and Municipal Circuit Trial Courts, in their respective jurisdiction.

“The procedure prescribed in Batas Pambansa Blg. 129, as well as the
implementing rules the Supreme Court has promulgated and may hereinafter
promulgate relative to appeals/petitions for review to the Intermediate
Appellate Court shall apply to appeals and petitions for review filed with the
Sandigayan-bayan. In all cases elevated to the Sandiganbayan, the Office of the
Tanodbayan shall represent the People of the Philippines.

“In case private individuals are charged as co-principals, accomplices or
accessories with the public officers or employees, including those employed in
government-owned or controlled corporations, they shall be tried jointly with
said public officers and employees.

“Any provision of law or the Rules of Court to the contrary notwithstanding,
the criminal action and the corresponding civil action for the recovery of civil
liability arising from the offense charged shall at all times be simultaneously
instituted with, and jointly determined in the same proceeding by the
Sandiganbayan or the appropriate courts the filing of the criminal action deemed
to necessarily carry with it the filing of the civil action and no right to
reserve the filing of such civil action separately from the criminal action
shall be recognized: PROVIDED, HOWEVER, that where the civil action had
heretofore been filed separately but judgment therein has not yet been rendered,
and the criminal case is hereafter filed with the Sandiganbayan or the
appropriate court, as the case maybe, for consolidation and joint determination
with the criminal action, otherwise the separate civil action shall be
considered abandoned.”

SEC. 2. All cases pending in the Sandiganbayan or in the
appropriate courts as of the date of the effectivity of this Decree shall remain
with and be disposed of by the courts where they are pending.

SEC. 3. The provisions of the Decree notwithstanding, the
Office of the Tanodbayan shall continue to have the exclusive authority to
conduct preliminary investigation, file the necessary information, and direct
and control the prosecution of all cases enumerated in Section 4 of Presidential
Decree No. 1606, whether such cases be within the exclusive original/appellate
jurisdiction of the Sandiganbayan or the appropriate courts in accordance with
the provisions of Presidential Decree No. 1630.

SEC. 4. All other laws, orders, promulgations, rules and
regulations or parts thereof, which are inconsistent herewith are hereby
amended, repealed or modified accordingly.

SEC. 5. This Decree shall take effect immediately.

Done in the City of Manila this 23rd day of March, in the year of Our Lord,
nineteen hundred and eighty-three,

			(Sgd.) FERDINAND E. MARCOS President Republic of the Philippines
	By the President:
	(Sgd.) JUAN C. TUVERA
		Presidential Executive Assistant