PEOPLE OF THE PHILIPPINES, PLAINTIFF AND APPELLANT, VS. RICARDO MAPA, PATRICIO ABALO, DEFENDANTS AND APPELLEES.

Appeal by the Provincial Fiscal of Iloilo in behalf of the People
from an order entered on 23 March 1959 fey the Court of First Instance
of Iloilo quashing an information that charged Ricardo Mapa and
Patricio Abalo with the crime of direct assault on a person in
authority (crim. case No. 7391).

On 11 October 1958 Juan Do-oma, a barrio lieutenant of Lublub,
Dumangas, Iloilo, filed in the Justice of the Peace Court of Dumangas
.a sworn complaint charging Ricardo Mapa and Patricio Abalo with the
crime of assault upon a person in authority with slight physical
injuries.

On 29 October 1958 the complaint was amended to read, as follows:

The undersigned complainant, after being duly sworn
to according to law, accuses Ricardo Mapa and Patricio Abalo of the
crime of assault upon a person in authority with slight physical
injuries, committed as follows:

That on October 10, 1958, at
about 6:00 p.m., more or less, in the barrio of Lublub, municipality of
Dumangas, Iloilo, Philippines, and within the jurisdiction of this
Court, the above-named accused conspiring and confederating with each
other, did then and there, wilfully, unlawfully and feloniously, and
without provocation on the part of the offended party, assaulted and
attacked one Juan Do-oma who is a person in authority on the occasion
of the performance of his duties, thus inflicting upon the person of
said Juan Do-oma physical injuries which according to medical findings
will heal within two to three days.

Contrary to law.

Dumangas, Iloilo, October 29, 1958.

(Sgd.) JUAN DO-OMA

Complainant

Witnesses:

1. Juan Do-oma, Lublub, Dumangas, Iloilo
2. Jesus Dormitorio, Lublub, Dumangas, Iloilo
3. Castor Do-oma, Lublub, Dumangas, Iloilo
4. And others.

Subscribed and Sworn to before me this 29th day of
October, 1958, in Dumangas, Iloilo, Philippines, affiant exhibiting to
me his Res. Cert. No. A-2246381, issued at Iloilo City on February 28,
1958.

(Sgd.) NATIVIDAD PARCON
(Miss) NATIVIDAD PARCON
Justice of the Peace

On 9 January 1959 the Justice of the Peace Court of Dumangas rendered the following opinion:

Was the offended party engaged in the performance of
his duties as teniente del barrio when the supposed crime was committed
by the accused?

Did he attend the meeting in his official capacity as teniente del barrio as it is alleged in the complaint?

Exhibits
“3” and “4” of the prosecution which are invitations to a meeting
addressed to Jesus Dormitcrio and Juan Do-oma signed by Castor Do-oma,
President of the P.T.A. of Barrio Lublub, Dumangas, Iloilo, do not
state at all that the complainant was asked to attend the meeting as
teniente del barrio, although as a matter of respect the appendage of
teniente del barrio was added to his name. The fact that those who
attended the meeting were members of the association, there were about
25 persons most of them teachers, does not necessarily imply that the
meeting was an official one and for an official purpose. Hence the
offended party was just one of those present at the meeting that aimed
to device ways and means to honor a son of the barrio, Dr. Narciso
Monfort, who at that time was about to arrive accompanying the Director
of Health, Dr. Jesus Nolasco.

For the above consideration, this Court orders that the case be dismissed with costs de officio.

On 19 February 1959 the Provincial Fiscal of Iloilo filed in the
Court of First Instance of Iloilo an information charging Ricardo Mapa
and Patricio Abalo with the crime of direct assault on a person in
authority, to wit:

That on or about October 10, 1958, in the municipality of Dumangas,
province of Iloilo, Philippines, within the jurisdiction of this Court,
the two above-named accused, conspiring and helping one another, did,
maliciously and feloniously attack, assault and box Juan Do-oma, a
barrio lieutenant of barrio Lublub, municipality of Dumangas, Province
of Iloilo, inflicting upon said Juan Do-oma physical injuries which
took three (3) days to heal; the aforestated attack on said
person-in-authority having been done by the two herein accused on the
occasion of the performance of said person-in-authority of his official
duties in the aforestated barrio. (Criminal case No. 7391.)

On 18 March 1959 the accused moved that the information be quashed
on the ground that the Provincial Fiscal had no power or authority to
conduct a preliminary investigation of a crime charged in a complaint
that had been investigated and dismissed by the Justice of the Peace
Court of Dumangas. On 21 March 1959 the Provincial Fiscal objected to
the motion to quash. As stated above, on 23 March 1959 the Court of
First Instance of Iloilo quashed the information. An urgent motion for
reconsideration of the order of 23 March 1959 having been denied, the
Provincial Fiscal of Iloilo in behalf of the People has appealed to
this Court raising only a question of law.

The three errors assigned by the Provincial Fiscal boil down to the
question of whether a Provincial Fiscal may conduct his own preliminary
investigation of a criminal case which had been investigated and
dismissed by a Justice of the Peace Court.

The People invokes Republic Act No. 732, as amended by Republic Act No. 1799, which provides that—

A provincial fiscal, an assistant provincial fiscal
and a special counsel appointed under section 1686 of this Code shall
have authority to conduct investigation into the matter of any crime or
misdemeanor and have the necessary information or complaint prepared or
made against persons charged ,with the commission of the same. * * *,

to support its proposition that the Provincial Fiscal has the power or authority to conduct such investigation.

On the other hand, the appellees, without denying that the
Provincial Fiscal is clothed with that power to conduct investigation
under the provisions of the aforequoted law, contend that such power or
authority may only be exercised when the crime or felony charged in the
complaint is cognizable by a Court of First Instance, but not when the
crime charged in the complaint, though cognizable by a Court of First
Instance, had been investigated and dismissed by a Justice of the Peace
Court. In support of their contention they cite the case of Villanueva
vs. Gonzales, 99 Phil., 679; 52 Off. Gaz. (12) 5497, where this Court
held that—

* * * Said Republic Act No. 732, governs preliminary
investigations conducted by provincial fiscals in cases originally
instituted by them in courts of first instance. It does not apply to cases begun in justice of the peace courts and, thereafter, forwarded
to the corresponding court of first instance, either after the second
phase of the preliminary investigation required in the Rules of Court
had been conducted before said justice of the peace courts, or after a
waiver by the accused of their right to said preliminary investigation.
* * *

The power of the Provincial Fiscal to conduct an investigation of a
criminal case previously investigated and dismissed by a Justice of the
Peace Court is a settled question. In People vs. Pervez,^[1] 110 Phil., 213, this Court held that—

* * * it cannot seriously be disputed, and needs no
citation of authorities, that the Provincial Fiscal is not precluded
from conducting his own preliminary investigation of a case previously
dismissed by the Justice of the Peace, since such dismissal creates no
bar to another prosecution. * * *

In resume, we reiterate our previous ruling that if the charge for a
crime cognizable by the Court of First Instance is filed by a competent
party or officer in the Justice of the Peace Court, and the accused
waives preliminary investigation, (and the latter court) finds that a prima facie case
exists, and consequently, elevates the records to the Court of First
Instance, the Provincial Fiscal is not called upon to conduct another
investigation, and may forthwith file the information in the Court of
First Instance.Republic Act No. 732 does not apply in such a case. ‘But if the
Justice of the Peace, after due investigation, dismisses the charge,
then the case stands as if no charge had been made, and the Provincial
Fiscal may thereafter conduct his own investigation of the same charge
under the aforesaid Republic Act 732, making it in the presence of the
accused if and when the latter so requests.

The ruling was reiterated in People vs. Padron, G. R. No. L-15960, 29 April 1961.

The order appealed from is set aside and the case remanded to the
court below for further proceedings in accord with law, with costs
.against the appellees.

Bautista Angelo, Labrador, Concepcion, Reyes, J. B. L., Barrera, Paredes, and Dizon, JJ., concur.

^[1] This is the case
previously quashed by the Court of First Instance of Iloilo, which was
invoked by the accused to support and justify their motion to quash the
information filed in the present case.