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*
G.R. No. 143591. November 23, 2007.
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* THIRD DIVISION.
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manifestly false and motivated by the lust for vengeance; and 10) when
there is clearly no prima facie case against the accused and a motion to
quash on that ground has been denied.
Same; Same; Same; Same; Appeals; The general rule is that this Court
does not review the factual findings of the trial court, which include the
determination of probable cause for the issuance of a warrant of arrest—it
is only in exceptional cases when this Court may set aside the conclusions of
the prosecutor and the trial judge on the existence of probable cause, that is,
when it is necessary to prevent the misuse of the strong arm of the law or to
protect the orderly administration of justice.—To accord respect to the
discretion granted to the prosecutor and for reasons of practicality, this
Court, as a rule, does not interfere with the prosecutor’s determination of
probable cause. Otherwise, courts would be swamped with petitions to
review the prosecutor’s findings in such investigations. In the same way, the
general rule is that this Court does not review the factual findings of the trial
court, which include the determination of probable cause for the issuance of
a warrant of arrest. It is only in exceptional cases when this Court may set
aside the conclusions of the prosecutor and the trial judge on the existence
of probable cause, that is, when it is necessary to prevent the misuse of the
strong arm of the law or to protect the orderly administration of justice. The
facts obtaining in the present case warrant the application of the exception.
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NACHURA, J.:
1
For review is the Decision of the Court of Appeals (CA) dated June
20, 2000 in CA-G.R. SP No. 49666 dismissing the petition for
certiorari filed by petitioners Teodoro C. Borlongan, Jr., Corazon M.
Bejasa, Arturo Manuel, Jr., Benjamin de Leon, P. Siervo Dizon,
Delfin C. Gonzalez, Jr., Eric Lee and Ben T. Lim, Jr.
The factual and procedural antecedents of the case are as follows:
Respondent Magdaleno Peña instituted a civil case for recovery
of agent’s compensation and expenses, damages, and attorney’s
2
fees, against Urban Bank and the petitioners, before the Regional
Trial Court (RTC) of Negros Occidental, Bago City. The case was
raffled to Branch 62 and was dock-eted as Civil Case No. 754.
Respondent
3
anchored his claim for compensation on the contract of
agency allegedly entered into
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This is to confirm the engagement of your services as the authorized representative of Urban
Bank, specifically to hold and maintain possession of our above[-]captioned property and to
protect the same from former tenants, occupants or any other person who are threatening to
return to the said property and/or interfere with your possession of the said property for and in
our behalf.
You are likewise authorized to represent Urban Bank in any court action that you may
institute to carry out your aforementioned duties, and to prevent any intruder, squatter or any
other person not otherwise authorized in writing by Urban Bank from entering or staying in the
premises. (Id., at p. 69).
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12
In a Resolution dated September 23, 1998, the City Prosecutor
concluded that the petitioners were probably guilty of four (4)
counts of the crime of Introducing Falsified Documents penalized by
the second paragraph of Article 172 of the Revised Penal Code
(RPC). The City Prosecutor concluded that the documents were
falsified because the alleged signatories untruthfully stated that ISCI
was the principal of the respondent; that petitioners knew that the
documents were falsified considering that the signatories were mere
dummies; and that the documents formed part of the record of Civil
Case No. 754 where they were used by petitioners as evidence in
support of their motion to dismiss, adopted in their answer and later,
13
in their Pre-Trial Brief. Subsequently, the corre-
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Wherefore, In view of all the foregoing, undersigned finds probable cause that the crime of
Introducing Falsified Documents in evidence under par. 2, Article 172, RPC (4 counts) had
been committed and that respondents Teodoro Borlongan, Delfin Gonzalez, Jr., Benjamin de
Leon, P. Siervo Dizon, Eric Lee, Ben Lim, Jr., Corazon Bejasa, and Arturo Manuel are
probably guilty.
Let Informations be filed with the Municipal Trial Court in Cities, City of Bago, Philippines.
SO RESOLVED. (Id., at pp. 110-114).
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14
sponding Informations were filed with the Municipal Trial Court in
Cities (MTCC), Bago City. The cases were docketed as Criminal
Cases Nos. 6683, 6684, 6685, and 6686. Thereafter, Judge Primitivo
15
Blanca issued the warrants for the arrest of the petitioners.
On October 1, 1998, petitioners filed an Omnibus Motion to 16
Quash, Recall Warrants of Arrest and/or For Reinvestigation.
Petitioners insisted that they were denied due process because of the
non-observance of the proper procedure on preliminary investigation
prescribed in the Rules of Court. Specifically, they claimed that they
were not afforded the right to submit their counter-affidavit. They
then argued that since no such counter-affidavit and supporting
documents were submitted by the petitioners, the trial judge merely
relied on the complaint-affidavit and attachments of the respondent
in issuing the warrants of arrest, also in contravention of the Rules.
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WHEREFORE, premises considered, the Omnibus Motion to Quash, Recall Warrants of Arrest
and/or For reinvestigation is hereby denied.
Set arraignment of the accused on December 1, 1998 at 8:30 o’clock in the morning.
SO ORDERED. (Id., at pp. 143-150).
227
A.
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228
B.
C.
D.
E.
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22 Sec. 26. Bail not a bar to objections on illegal arrest, lack of or irregular
preliminary investigation.—An application for or admission to bail shall not bar the
accused from challenging the validity of his arrest or the legality of the warrant issued
therefor, or from assailing the regularity or questioning the absence of a preliminary
investigation of the charge against him, provided that he raises them before entering
his plea. The court shall resolve the matter as early as practicable but not later than
the start of the trial of the case.
23 People v. Vallejo, 461 Phil. 672, 686; 416 SCRA 193, 202-203 (2003); People v.
Palijon, 397 Phil. 545, 556; 343 SCRA 486, 496 (2000); Go v. Court of Appeals, G.R.
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25 Andres v. Cuevas, G.R. No. 150869, June 9, 2005, 460 SCRA 38, 51-52;
Samson v. Secretary Guingona, Jr., 401 Phil. 167, 172; 348 SCRA 32, 36 (2000).
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nature of the crime and the penalty involved (which is less than 4
years of imprisonment), likewise, necessitate the suspension of the
case below in order to prevent the controversy from being mooted.
We now proceed with the main issues, viz.: 1) whether petitioners
were deprived of their right to due process of law because of the
denial of their right to preliminary investigation and to submit their
counter-affidavit; 2) whether the Informations charging the
petitioners were validly filed and the warrants for their arrest were
properly issued; and 3) whether this Court can, itself, determine
probable cause.
As will be discussed below, the petitioners could not validly
claim the right to preliminary investigation. Still, petitioners insist
that they were denied due process because they were not afforded
the right to submit counter-affidavits which would have aided the
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court in determining the existence of probable cause. Petitioners
also claim that the respondent’s complaint-affidavit was not based
on the latter’s personal knowledge; hence, it should not have been
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used by the court as basis in its finding of probable cause.
Moreover, petitioners aver that there was no sufficient evidence to
prove the elements of the crime. Specifically, it was not established
that the documents in question were falsified; that petitioners were
the ones who presented the documents as evidence; and that 28
petitioners knew that the documents were indeed falsified.
Petitioners likewise assert that at the time of the filing of the
complaint-affidavit, they had not yet formally offered the documents
as evidence; hence, they could not have “intro-duced” the same in
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court. Considering the foregoing, petitioners pray that this Court,
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itself, determine whether or not probable cause exists.
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26 Rollo, p. 651.
27 Id., at p. 696.
28 Id., at pp. 700-702.
29 Id., at p. 714.
30 Id., at p. 725.
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31
The pertinent provisions of the 1985 Rules of Criminal Pro-cedure,
namely, Sections 1, 3 (a) and 9(a) of Rule 112, are relevant to the
resolution of the aforesaid issues:
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(a) The complaint shall state the known address of the respondent and be
accompanied by affidavits of the complain-ant and his witnesses as well as other
supporting documents, in such number of copies as there are respondents, plus two
(2) copies of the official file. The said affidavits shall be sworn to before any fiscal,
state prosecutor or government official authorized to administer oath, or, in their
absence or unavailability, a notary public, who must certify that he personally exam-
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31 As amended, per Supreme Court Resolutions dated June 17, 1988 and July 7,
1988. The Rules were further revised and approved on October 3, 2000, which took
effect on December 1, 2000.
32 RULES OF CRIMINAL PROCEDURE, Rule 112, Sec. 1 reads:
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ined the affiants and that he is satisfied that they voluntarily executed and understood
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their affidavits.
SEC. 9. Cases not falling under the original jurisdiction of the Regional
Trial Courts not covered by the Rule on Summary Pro-cedure.—
(a) Where filed with the fiscal.—If the complaint is filed directly with the
fiscal or state prosecutor, the procedure outlined in Section 3 (a) of this Rule
shall be observed. The Fiscal shall take appropriate action based on the
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affidavits and other supporting documents submitted by the complainant.”
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33 Section 3(a) of the New Rules states:
Cases not requiring a preliminary investigation nor covered by the Rule on Summary
Procedure.—
(a) If filed with the prosecutor.—If the complaint is filed directly with the prosecutor
involving an offense punishable by imprisonment of less than four (4) years, two (2) months
and one (1) day, the procedure outlined in section 3(a) of this Rule shall be observed. The
prosecutor shall act on the complaint based on the affidavits and other supporting documents
submitted by the complainant within ten (10) days from its filing.
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35 Article 172.
xxxx
Any person who shall knowingly introduce in evidence in any judicial proceeding or to the
damage of another or who, with the intent to cause such damage, shall use any of the false
documents embraced in the next preceding article or in any of the foregoing subdivisions of
this article, shall be punished by the penalty next lower in degree.
36 Villanueva v. Judge Almazan, 384 Phil. 776, 784; 328 SCRA 230, 236 (2000);
Del Rosario, Jr. v. Judge Bartolome, 337 Phil. 330, 333; 270 SCRA 645, 649 (1997).
235
On the other hand, for the issuance of a warrant of arrest, the judge
must personally determine the existence of probable cause. Again,
the petitioners insist that the trial judge erred in issuing the warrant
of arrest without affording them their right to submit their counter-
affidavits.
Section 2, Article III of the Constitution provides:
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37 AAA v. Carbonell, G.R. No. 171465, June 8, 2007, 524 SCRA 496; Ho v.
People, 345 Phil. 597, 605-606; 280 SCRA 365, 374-375 (1997); Soliven v.
Makasiar, No. L-82585, November 14, 1988, 167 SCRA 393, 398.
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41 Id.; Cuevas v. Muñoz, 401 Phil. 752, 773; 348 SCRA 542, 561 (2000); Ho v.
People, supra note 37, at p. 608.
42 Ladlad v. Velasco, supra note 39.
43 De Joya v. Marquez, G.R. No. 162416, January 31, 2006, 481 SCRA 376, 381.
44 Id.; Ladlad v. Velasco, supra note 39.
45 Reyes, The Revised Penal Code, Book Two, 1998 ed., p. 246.
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46 Aquino, The Revised Penal Code, Vol. II, 1987 ed., p. 270.
47 Rollo, pp. 110-114.
48 Id., at pp. 108-109.
49 Id., at p. 109.
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50 See Nala v. Judge Barroso, Jr., 455 Phil. 999, 1011; 408 SCRA 529, 538 (2003)
in which the Court held that the affidavit and testimony of the witnesses that the
petitioner had no license to possess a firearm do not qualify as “personal knowledge”
but only “personal belief” because they did not verify nor secure a certification from
an appropriate government agency that petitioner was not licensed to possess a
firearm.
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51 See AAA v. Carbonell, G.R. No. 171465, June 8, 2007, 524 SCRA 496; and
Hon. Drilon v. Court of Appeals, 327 Phil. 916, 922; 258 SCRA 280, 285-286 (1996),
where the Court found that there was no grave abuse of discretion on the part of the
prosecutor in finding probable as the evidence, taken altogether constitute probable
cause.
52 Ching v. Secretary of Justice, G.R. No. 164317, February 6, 2006, 481 SCRA
609, 629-630; Preferred Home Specialties, Inc. v. Court of Appeals, G.R. No. 163593,
December 16, 2005, 478 SCRA 387, 410.
53 R.R. Paredes v. Calilung, G.R. No. 156055, March 5, 2007, 517 SCRA 369,
395.
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