Hipos Vs Bay
Hipos Vs Bay
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* THIRD DIVISION.
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675
676
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677
678
CHICO-NAZARIO, J.:
This is a Petition for Mandamus under Rule 65 of the Rules of
Court seeking a reversal of the Order dated 2 October 2006 of
respondent Judge Teodoro A. Bay of Branch 86 of the Regional
Trial Court (RTC) of Quezon City, which denied the Motion to
Withdraw Informations of the Office of the City Prosecutor of
Quezon City.
The facts of the case are as follows.
On 15 December 2003, two Informations for the crime of rape
and one Information for the crime of acts of lasciviousness were
filed against petitioners Darryl Hipos, Jaycee Corsiño, Arthur
Villaruel and two others before Branch 86 of the Regional Trial
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1 The real name of the alleged victim is withheld per Republic Act No. 7610 and
Republic Act No. 9262, as held in People v. Cabalquinto, G.R. No. 167693, 19
September 2006, 502 SCRA 419.
679
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680
poses upon him the duty to exercise his judgment in reference to any
manner in which he is required to act, because it is his judgment that
is to be exercised and not that of the court.4
In the case at bar, the act which petitioners pray that we compel
the trial court to do is to grant the Office of the City Prosecutor’s
Motion for Withdrawal of Informations against petitioners. In effect,
petitioners seek to curb Judge Bay’s exercise of judicial discretion.
There is indeed an exception to the rule that matters involving
judgment and discretion are beyond the reach of a writ of
mandamus, for such writ may be issued to compel action in those
matters, when refused.5 However, mandamus is never available to
direct the exercise of judgment or discretion in a particular way
or the retraction or reversal of an action already taken in the
exercise of either.6 In other words, while a judge refusing to act on a
Motion to Withdraw Informations can be compelled by mandamus
to act on the same, he cannot be compelled to act in a certain way,
i.e., to grant or deny such Motion. In the case at bar, Judge Bay did
not refuse to act on the Motion to Withdraw Informations; he had
already acted on it by denying the same. Accordingly, mandamus is
not available anymore. If petitioners believed that Judge Bay
committed grave abuse of discretion in the issuance of such Order
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4 Akbayan-Youth v. Commission on Elections, 407 Phil. 619, 646; 355 SCRA 318,
342 (2001).
5 Angchangco, Jr. v. The Honorable Ombudsman, 335 Phil. 766, 772; 268 SCRA
301, 306 (1997).
6 Id., at pp. 771-772; p. 306.
681
“The appreciation of the evidence involves the use of discretion on the part
of the prosecutor, and we do not find in the case at bar a clear showing by
the petitioner of a grave abuse of such discretion.
The decision of the prosecutor may be reversed or modified by the
Secretary of Justice or in special cases by the President of the Philippines.
But even this Court cannot order the prosecution of a person against
whom the prosecutor does not find sufficient evidence to support at
least a prima facie case. The courts try and absolve or convict the accused
but as a rule have no part in the initial decision to prosecute him.
The possible exception is where there is an unmistakable showing of
grave abuse of discretion that will justify a judicial intrusion into the
precincts of the executive. But in such a case the proper remedy to call
for such exception is a petition for mandamus, not certiorari or
prohibition.”8 (Emphases supplied.)
Petitioners have taken the above passage way out of its context.
In the case of Sanchez, Calauan Mayor Antonio Sanchez brought a
Petition for Certiorari before this Court, challenging the order of the
respondent Judge therein denying his motion to quash the
Information filed against him and six other persons for alleged rape
and homicide. One of the arguments of Mayor Sanchez was that
there was discrimination against him because of the non-inclusion of
two other persons in the Information. We held that even this Court
cannot order the prosecution of a person against whom the
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“In Crespo v. Mogul, the Court held that once a criminal complaint or
information is filed in court, any disposition of the case or dismissal or
acquittal or conviction of the accused rests within the exclusive jurisdiction,
competence, and discretion of the trial court. The trial court is the best and
sole judge on what to do with the case before it. A motion to dismiss the
case filed by the public prosecutor should be addressed to the court who has
the option to grant or deny the same. Contrary to the contention of the
petitioner, the rule applies to a motion to withdraw the Information or to
dismiss the case even before or after arraignment of the accused. The only
qualification is that the action of the court must not impair the substantial
rights of the accused or the right of the People or the private complainant to
due process of law. When the trial court grants a motion of the public
prosecutor to dismiss the case, or to quash the Information, or to withdraw
the Information in compliance with the directive of the Secretary of Justice,
or to deny the said motion, it does so not out of subservience to or defiance
of the directive of the Secretary of Justice but in sound exercise of its
judicial prerogative.”
Petitioners also claim that since Judge Bay granted a Motion for
Reinvestigation, he should have “deferred to the Resolution of Asst.
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“In the instant case, the respondent Judge granted the motion for
reinvestigation and directed the Office of the Provincial Prosecutor of
Bulacan to conduct the reinvestigation. The former was, therefore, deemed
to have deferred to the authority of the prosecution arm of the Government
to consider the so-called new relevant and material evidence and determine
whether the information it had filed should stand.”13
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684
“Having done so, it behooved the respondent Judge to wait for a final
resolution of the incident. In Marcelo vs. Court of Appeals, this Court ruled:
Accordingly, we rule that the trial court in a criminal case which
takes cognizance of an accused’s motion for review of the resolution
of the investigating prosecutor or for reinvestigation and defers the
arraignment until resolution of the said motion must act on the
resolution reversing the investigating prosecutor’s finding or on a
motion to dismiss based thereon only upon proof that such resolution
is already final in that no appeal was taken thereon to the Department
of Justice.
The resolution of Assistant Provincial Prosecutor Rutor recommending
the dismissal of the case never became final, for it was not approved by the
Provincial Prosecutor. On the contrary, the latter disapproved it. As a
consequence, the final resolution with respect to the reinvestigation is that of
the Provincial Prosecutor, for under Section 4, Rule 112 of the Rules of
Court, no complaint or information may be filed or dismissed by an
investigating fiscal without the prior written authority or approval of the
provincial or city fiscal or chief state prosecutor. Also, under Section 1(d) of
R.A. No. 5180, as amended by P.D. No. 77 and P.D. No. 911.”14
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14 Id., at p. 651.
685
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15 Id., at p. 650.
16 Rollo, p. 370.
17 Ledesma v. Court of Appeals, 344 Phil. 207; 278 SCRA 656 (1997).
686
“In the light of recent holdings in Marcelo and Martinez; and considering
that the issue of the correctness of the justice secretary’s resolution has been
amply threshed out in petitioner’s letter, the information, the resolution of
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the secretary of justice, the motion to dismiss, and even the exhaustive
discussion in the motion for reconsideration—all of which were submitted
to the court—the trial judge committed grave abuse of discretion when it
denied the motion to withdraw the information, based solely on his bare
and ambiguous reliance on Crespo. The trial court’s order is
inconsistent with our repetitive calls for an independent and competent
assessment of the issue(s) presented in the motion to dismiss. The trial
judge was tasked to evaluate the secretary’s recommendation finding the
absence of probable cause to hold petitioner criminally liable for libel. He
failed to do so. He merely ruled to proceed with the trial without stating his
reasons for disregarding the secretary’s recommendation.”18 (Emphasis
supplied.)
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687
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688
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the accused (People v. Velasquez, 377 SCRA 214, 2002). The complainants’
affidavits indicate that the accused helped one another in committing the
acts complained of. Considering that the attackers were not strangers but
their trusted classmates who enticed them to go to the house where they
were molested, the complainants cannot be expected to react forcefully or
violently in protecting themselves from the unexpected turn of events.
Considering also that both complainants were fifteen (15) years of age and
considered children under our laws, the ruling of the Supreme Court in
People v. Malones, G.R. Nos. 124388-90, March 11, 2004 becomes very
relevant. The Supreme Court ruled as follows:
Rape victims, especially child victims, should not be expected to act
the way mature individuals would when placed in
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20 Rollo, p. 41.
21 Id., at p. 13.
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As can be seen, the body of the assailed Order not only plainly
stated that the court found probable cause against the petitioners, but
likewise provided an adequate discussion of the reasons for such
finding. Indeed, the general rule is that where there is a conflict
between the dispositive portion or the fallo and the body of the
decision, the fallo controls. However, where the inevitable
conclusion from the body of the decision is so clear as to show that
there was a mistake in the dispositive portion, the body of the
decision will prevail.23
In sum, petitioners’ resort to a Petition for Mandamus to compel
the trial judge to grant their Motion to Withdraw Informations is
improper. While mandamus is available to compel action on matters
involving judgment and discretion when refused, it is never
available to direct the exercise of judgment or discretion in a
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Petition dismissed.
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