ALFREDO APAO, ROMEO APAO, RUDY BAYUTAS, TIRSO BONGATO, DEOGENES GENSON, ANDRES GRADO, PRIMO MASONG, SANTIAGO OLIDIANA AND FELIX TAGALOG, PETITIONERS, VS. HON. TITO V. TIZON, AS …

This is an original
petition for mandamus and habeas corpus filed by Alfredo Apao
and others against the Honorable Tito V. Tizon as Judge of the Court of First Instance of Zamboanga del Sur, Vicente Cerilles as Assistant Provincial Fiscal, and the
Honorable Javier Arriosa as Provincial Governor and
Jailer, of the same province.

On or about January
28, 1960 petitioners
and other persons were charged with double murder in a complaint filed in the
Justice of the Peace Court of Molave, Zamboanga del Sur.  On August 27 of the same year the court
dismissed the complaint upon motion of the Special Prosecutor detailed
to handle the case.  On July 10, 1962, however, a second complaint was filed in the
same Justice of the Peace Court against the same parties charging them with the
commission of the same offense.  After
their arrest and an express waiver of their right to a preliminary investigation,
the case was remanded to the Court of First Instance of the province where on July 17, 1962 petitioners filed an
urgent motion for bail.  After some delay
in the hearing upon this motion, on July 24 of the same year the respondent
judge denied it upon the ground that it was filed prematurely in view of the
fact that, up to that time, the Provincial Fiscal had not yet filed the
corresponding information.  Petitioners’
motion for reconsideration of this ruling was denied.

It appears that thereafter petitioners urged the office of the
Provincial Fiscal to take immediate action so as to enable the Court to
consider their motion for bail, but this notwithstanding no information was
immediately filed because the Fiscal in charge
of the case had not been able to confer with the prosecution witnesses
who resided in far away muni­cipalities. 
In view thereof, petitioners filed the present action.

The petition having been given due course on August 16, 1962, the respondents were duly
summoned and required to file their answer within two days from notice.  On August 29 of the same year the respondent
Assistant Provincial Fiscal of Zamboanga del Sur filed his answer, while the respondent Pro­vincial
Governor and the respondent judge filed their own separate answer days later.

On September 11, 1962 the respondent Assistant Provincial Fiscal
filed a supplemental answer
alleging therein that on the 4th of said month an information had been filed in
the Court of First Instance of Zamboanga del Sur charging herein petitioners with double murder
(Criminal Case No. 2073), and praying that the present action be dismissed
because it had become moot.  In view
thereof We issued a resolution on the same date ordering the respondent judge or,
in his absence, the justice of the peace of the provincial capital of Zamboanga del Sur, to
expeditiously hear and resolve the motion for bail filed by petitioners
herein.  Finally, the record shows that,
pursuant to our resolution, the respondent judge set the hearing on the motion
for bail on September 13, 1962 and that on the 28th of the same month and year,
His Honor had issued an order in
Criminal Case No. 2073 mentioned above denying the aforesaid motion for bail.

The foregoing facts and circumstances show that the present case
has become moot and academic, for which reason it is hereby dismissed, without
costs.

Concepcion, C.J., Reyes, J.B.L., Makalintal, Zaldivar, Sanchez,
Castro, Fernando and Capistrano, JJ., concur.