Jurisdiction On Election Offenses - Refil

JURISDICTION
ON
ELECTION
OFFENSES
OMNIBUS
ELECTION CODE,
SECTION 268
Sec. 268. Jurisdiction of courts. - The regional trial
court shall have the exclusive original jurisdiction
to try and decide any criminal action or
proceedings for violation of this Code, except
those relating to the offense of failure to register
or failure to vote which shall be under the
jurisdiction of the metropolitan or municipal trial
courts. From the decision of the courts, appeal will
lie as in other criminal cases.
The Commission, through its duly authorized legal officers,
has
power:
A. To investigate and prosecute election offenses punishable

under the Omnibus Election Code.
TN: Concurrent with other prosecuting arms of the

government.
SECTION 265, OMNIBUS ELECTION CODE, AS AMENDED BY RA 9369

In an Order issued on 25 August 1997,
respondent Judge Tomas B. Noynay, as
presiding judge of Branch 23, motu proprio
ordered the records of the cases to be
COMELEC V withdrawn and directed the COMELEC Law
NOYNAY, Department to file the cases with the
appropriate Municipal Trial Court on the
292 SCRA ground that pursuant to Section 32 of B.P.
354 Blg. 129 as amended by R.A. No. 7691, the
Regional Trial Court has no jurisdiction over
the cases since the maximum imposable
penalty in each of the cases does not
exceed six yearsn of imprisonment.
As stated in Morales, jurisdiction is conferred by the Constitution or by Congress.
Outside the cases enumerated in Section 5(2) of Article VIII of the Constitution,
Congress has the plenary power to define, prescribe, and apportion the
jurisdiction of various courts.
Congress may thus provide by law that a certain class of cases should be
exclusively heard and determined by one court. Such law would be a special law
and must be construed as an exception to the general law on jurisdiction of
courts, namely, the Judiciary Act of 1948, as amended, and the
Judiciary Reorganization Act of 1980. R.A. No. 7691 can by no means be
considered as a special law on jurisdiction; it is merely an amendatory law
intended to amend specific sections of the Judiciary Reorganization Act of 1980.
Hence, R.A. No. 7691 does not have the effect of repealing laws vesting upon
Regional Trial Courts or the Sandiganbayan exclusive original jurisdiction to hear
and decide the cases therein specified. That Congress never intended that R.A.
No. 7691 should repeal such special provisions is indubitably evident from the
fact that it did not touch at all the opening sentence of Section 32 of B.P. Blg. 129
providing for the exception.
Juan v People, 322 SCRA
125
Petitioners were accused of using barangay property for election campaign
purposes and other partisan political activities during their incumbency as
barangay officials, in violation of Section 261(o) of the Omnibus Election Code.
Under Section 268 of the said Code, regional trial courts have exclusive
jurisdiction to try and decide any criminal action or proceeding for violation of
the Code, "except those relating to the offense of failure to register or failure to
vote.”
Unlawful and unauthorized use of government property by

incumbent public officers constitutes fraud. Thus, the provision on
preventive suspension in the Anti-Graft Law applies to such
officers even if the alleged violations are primarily considered as
election offenses.
Juan v People, 322 SCRA
True,125
the cases against petitioners involve violations of the
Election Code; however, the charges are not unidimensional. Every
law must be read together with the provisions of any
other complementing law, unless both are otherwise irreconcilable. It
must be emphasized that petitioners were incumbent public officers
charged with the unauthorized and unlawful use of government property
in their custody, in the pursuit of personal interests. The crime being
imputed to them is akin to that committed by public officers as laid down
in the Revised Penal Code. Certainly, petitioners' acts constitute fraud
against the government; thus, the present case is covered by Section 13
of RA 3019.

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JURISDICTION

A. To investigate and prosecute election offenses punishable

TN: Concurrent with other prosecuting arms of the

SECTION 265, OMNIBUS ELECTION CODE, AS AMENDED BY RA 9369

Unlawful and unauthorized use of government property by

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