VOL. 538, NOVEMBER 23, 2007 221: Borlongan, Jr. vs. Peña
VOL. 538, NOVEMBER 23, 2007 221: Borlongan, Jr. vs. Peña
VOL. 538, NOVEMBER 23, 2007 221: Borlongan, Jr. vs. Peña
*
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 Pena filed a civ case for recovery of
compensation and expenses, damages,
of agent’s compensation and expenses, damages, and attorney’s and attorney’s fees against Urban Bank
2 and Borlongan
fees, against Urban Bank and the petitioners, before the Regional
B then submitted documents: letters by
Trial Court (RTC) of Negros Occidental, Bago City. The case was Isabela Sugar Company and others
raffled to Branch 62 and was dock-eted as Civil Case No. 754. P says these are falsified because the
alleged signatories did not actually sign
Respondent
3
anchored his claim for compensation on the contract of
agency allegedly entered into The people who signed were not
stockholders etc
Petitioners gave documents KNOWING
that they were falsified
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xxxx
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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).
225
12
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12
In a Resolution dated September 23, 1998, the City Prosecutor CP said that B probably guilty of 4
counts of crime of Introducing
concluded that the petitioners were probably guilty of four (4) Falsified Documents penalised by the
second paragraph of RPC Art. 172
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 Documents falsified because
signatories untruthfully stated that ISCI
falsified because the alleged signatories untruthfully stated that ISCI principal of the respondent
was the principal of the respondent; that petitioners knew that the Petitioners knew that docs were
falsified
documents were falsified considering that the signatories were mere
dummies; and that the documents formed part of the record of Civil Documents used as part of the civ
acase where they were used by
Case No. 754 where they were used by petitioners as evidence in petitioners as evidence in support of
their motion to dismiss
support of their motion13to dismiss, adopted in their answer and later,
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).
226
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.
B: was not given a chance to submit
On October 1, 1998, petitioners filed an Omnibus Motion to their counter-affidavit
16
Quash, Recall Warrants of Arrest and/or For Reinvestigation. No C-A and supporting documents
were submitted by the petitioners
Petitioners insisted that they were denied due process because of the
non-observance of the proper procedure on preliminary investigation Judge merely relied on C-A and
attachments of the respondent in
prescribed in the Rules of Court. Specifically, they claimed that they issuing the warrants of arrest
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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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B.
C.
D.
E.
On August
21
2, 2000, this Court issued a Temporary Restraining Order
(TRO) enjoining the judge of the MTCC from proceeding in any
manner with Criminal Cases Nos. 6683 to 6686, effective during the
entire period that the case is pending before, or until further orders
of, this Court.
With the MTCC proceedings suspended, we now proceed to
resolve the issues raised.
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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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230
double jeopardy is clearly apparent; 7) where the Court has no Court has no jurisdiction over the
offence
jurisdiction over the offense; 8) where it is a case of persecution
Case of persecution rather than
rather than prosecution; 9) where the charges are manifestly false prosecution
and motivated by the lust for vengeance; and 10) when there is Charges are manifestly false and
motivated y lust for vengeance
clearly no prima facie case against the accused and a motion to
25
Clearly no prima facie case
quash on that ground has been denied.
Considering that the issues for resolution involve the validity of
the information and warrant of arrest, and considering further that no
waiver of rights may be attributed to the petitioners as earlier
discussed, we issued a TRO on August 2, 2000 to give the Court the
opportunity to resolve the case before the criminal prosecution is
allowed to continue. The
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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 B: denied due process because they
were not afforded the right to submit
claim the right to preliminary investigation. Still, petitioners insist C-A which could have aided the court
in determining the existence of PC
that they were denied due process because they were not afforded
the right to submit counter-affidavits which would have aided the
26
court in determining the existence of probable cause. Petitioners P’s C-A is not based on the letters
personal knowledge - should not
also claim that the respondent’s complaint-affidavit was not based have been used by this court as
basis for finding PC
on the latter’s personal knowledge; hence, it should not have been 27
used by the court as basis in its finding of probable cause.
Moreover, petitioners aver that there was no sufficient evidence to No sufficient evidence to prove
elements of the crime
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.
At the time of the filing of the C-A,
Petitioners likewise assert that at the time of the filing of the they had not yet formally offered the
docs as evidence, they could nt have
complaint-affidavit, they had not yet formally offered the documents “introduced” the same in court
as evidence;
29
hence, they could not have “intro-duced” the same in
court. Considering the foregoing, petitioners pray that 30
this Court, SC should determine if probable
cause exists
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:
233
ined the affiants and that he is satisfied that they voluntarily executed and understood
33
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
34
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.
234
prision correccional in its minimum period, or four (4) months and PI IS NOT MANDATORY
one (1) day to two (2) years and four (4) months. Clearly, the case is
cognizable by the Municipal Trial Court and preliminary
36
investigation is not mandatory.
Records show that the prosecutor relied merely on the com- Prosecution merely relied on the CA
of respondent and did not require B
plaint-affidavit of the respondent and did not require the petitioners to submit their counter-affidavits
to submit their counter-affidavits. The prosecutor should not be This is allowed by the rules
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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.
236
documents submitted by the respondent. There is no provision of No provision which makes the
submission of counter-
law or procedural rule which makes the submission of counter- affidavits mandatory before
judge can determine whether
affidavits mandatory before the judge can determine whether or not PC exists to issue warrant
there exists probable cause to issue the warrant.
In light of the foregoing, it appears that the proper procedure was
followed by the prosecutor in determining probable cause for the
filing of the informations, and by the trial court judge in determining
probable cause for the issuance of the warrants of arrest. To reiterate,
preliminary investigation was not mandatory, and the submission of
counter-affidavit was not necessary.
However, notwithstanding the proper observance of the
procedure laid down by the Rules, a closer scrutiny of the records
reveals that the Informations should not have been filed and the
warrants of arrest should not have been issued, because of lack of
probable cause.
Probable cause, for purposes of filing a criminal information, has
been defined as such facts as are sufficient to engender a well-
founded belief that a crime 38has been committed and that the accused
is probably guilty thereof. It is the existence of such facts and
circumstances as would excite the belief in a reasonable mind,
acting on the facts within the knowledge of the prosecutor, that the
person charged
39
was guilty of the crime for which he is to be
prosecuted. A finding of probable cause needs only to rest on
evidence showing that, more likely than not, a crime 40
has been
committed and that it was committed by the accused.
On the other hand, we have defined probable cause for the
issuance of a warrant of arrest as the existence of such facts
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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.
239
respondent state that he was present at the time of the execution of Neither did he claim that he was
familiar with the signatures of the
the documents. Neither did he claim that he was familiar with the signatories
signatures of the signatories. He simply made a bare assertion that
the signatories were mere dummies of ISCI and they were not in fact
officers, stockholders or representatives of the corporation. At the
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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.
240
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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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