THE CITY FISCAL, CITY OF CEBU, PETITIONER, VS. HON. WOODROW KINTANAR, IN HIS CAPACITY AS PRESIDING JUDGE OF BRANCH VIII OF THE CITY COURT OF CEBU CITY, RESPONDENT.

This is a
petition for certiorari filed by the City Fiscal of Cebu
City against the respondent Woodrow Kintanar in his
capacity as Presiding Judge of Branch VIII of the City Court.

It
appears that on March 18, 1969 an
information was filed with the City Court of Cebu City against Atty. Eleno Andales (Criminal Case No.
R-29686) charging him with driving or operating motor vehicle No. V-1026 (1967) along Manalili and Magallanes streets, Cebu City,
“with a delinquent driver’s License” in the morning of March 18, 1968.  Said defendant having entered a plea of not
guilty, the case was called for trial before the respondent judge.  After the prosecution had rested its case,
the defendant moved for dismissal upon the ground that the prosecution evidence
was not sufficient to establish the offense charged in the information.  Thereafter, finding the motion for dismissal
well taken, the Court dismissed the case on December
26, 1969.  After the denial of the second
motion for reconsideration filed by petitioner fiscal, he filed the present
petition for certiorari.

The
petition must be dismissed upon the ground firstly, that whatever error was
committed by the respondent judge’ was not an error of ‘jurisdiction but one of
judgment; se­condly, the order of dismissal – considering the circumstances
mentioned heretofore – amounted to and was, in effect, an acquittal – not reviewable neither by appeal nor by certiorari.

WHEREFORE, the petition under
consideration is dis­missed, with costs.

Concepcion, C.J., Reyes, JBL,  Makalintal,
Ruiz Castro, Fernando, and Teehankee, JJ., concur.

Zaldivar and Villamor, JJ.,
took no part.

Barredo, J., on official leave.