Miyerkules, Abril 6, 2016

Crim Pro Digest: OKABE V. GUTIERREZ

Topic: Preliminary Investigation

OKABE V. GUTIERREZ

Facts:

Charged for Estafa, Petitioner filed a verified motion for judicial determination of probable cause and to defer proceedings/arraignment, alleging that the only documents appended to the Information submitted by the investigating prosecutor were respondent Maruyamas affidavit-complaint for estafa and the resolution of the investigating prosecutor; the affidavits of the witnesses of the complainant, the respondents counter-affidavit and the other evidence adduced by the parties were not attached thereto. The petitioner further alleged that the documents submitted by the investigating prosecutor were not enough on which the trial court could base a finding of probable cause for estafa against her.
The court denied the petitioners motions on the following grounds:
(a) Based on its personal examination and consideration of the Information, the affidavit-complaint of respondent Maruyama and the resolution of the investigating prosecutor duly approved by the city prosecutor, the court found probable cause for the petitioners arrest. Since the petitioners motion for a determination of probable cause was made after the court had already found probable cause and issued a warrant for the petitioners arrest, and after the latter filed a personal bail bond for her provisional liberty, such motion was a mere surplusage;
In denying her motion for a determination of probable cause, she posits that the respondent judge acted with grave abuse of discretion amounting to excess or lack of jurisdiction.
ISSUE: 
If the RTC judge may rely on investigating prosecutor’s resolution in the determination of probable cause for the arrest of the accused.
HELD: 
NO. In determining the existence or non-existence of probable cause for the arrest of the accused, the judge should not rely solely on the said report.[The judge should consider not only the report of the investigating prosecutor but also the affidavit/affidavits and the documentary evidence of the parties, the counter-affidavit of the accused and his witnesses, as well as the transcript of stenographic notes taken during the preliminary investigation, if any, submitted to the court by the investigating prosecutor upon the filing of the Information. The duty to make such determination is personal and exclusive to the issuing judge. He cannot abdicate his duty and rely on the certification of the investigating prosecutor that he had conducted a preliminary investigation in accordance with law and the Rules of Court, as amended, and found probable cause for the filing of the Information.
The task of the presiding judge when the Information is filed with the court is first and foremost to determine the existence or non-existence of probable cause for the arrest of the accused. Probable cause is meant such set of facts and circumstances which would lead a reasonably discreet and prudent man to believe that the offense charged in the Information or any offense included therein has been committed by the person sought to be arrested. The purpose of the mandate of the judge to first determine probable cause for the arrest of the accused is to insulate from the very start those falsely charged of crimes from the tribulations, expenses and anxiety of a public trial.
Under Section 6, Rule 112 of the Rules of Court in relation to Section 2, Article III of the 1987 Constitution, the judge must make a personal determination of the existence or non-existence of probable cause for the arrest of the accused.  Under Section 1, Rule 112 of the Rules on Criminal Procedure, the investigating prosecutor, in conducting a preliminary investigation of a case cognizable by the RTC, is tasked to determine whether there is sufficient ground to engender a well-founded belief that a crime has been committed and the respondent therein is probably guilty thereof and should be held for trial. A preliminary investigation is for the purpose of securing the innocent against hasty, malicious and oppressive prosecution, and to protect him from an open and public accusation of a crime, from the trouble, expense and anxiety of a public trial.

If the investigating prosecutor finds probable cause for the filing of the Information against the respondent, he executes a certification at the bottom of the Information that from the evidence presented, there is a reasonable ground to believe that the offense charged has been committed and that the accused is probably guilty thereof. Such certification of the investigating prosecutor is, by itself, ineffective. It is not binding on the trial court. Nor may the RTC rely on the said certification as basis for a finding of the existence of probable cause for the arrest of the accused. 

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