FIRST DIVISION
|
WONINA M. BONIFACIO, JOCELYN UPANO,
VICENTE ORTUOSTE AND JOVENCIO PERECHE, SR., Petitioners, - versus - REGIONAL TRIAL COURT OF MAKATI, BRANCH 149, and
JESSIE JOHN P. GIMENEZ, Respondents. |
G.R. No. 184800
Present: PUNO,
C.J., Chairperson, CARPIO
MORALES, LEONARDO-DE
CASTRO, BERSAMIN,
and VILLARAMA,
JR., JJ. Promulgated: May
5, 2010 |
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D E C I S I O N
CARPIO MORALES, J.:
Via a petition for Certiorari and
Prohibition, petitioners Wonina M. Bonifacio, et al. assail the issuances of Branch 149 of the Regional Trial
Court (RTC) of Makati (public respondent) – Order[1] of
April 22, 2008 which denied their motion to quash the Amended Information indicting
them for libel, and Joint Resolution[2] of
August 12, 2008 denying reconsideration of the first issuance.
Private respondent Jessie John P.
Gimenez[3] (Gimenez)
filed on October 18, 2005, on behalf of the Yuchengco Family (“in particular,”
former Ambassador Alfonso Yuchengco and Helen Y. Dee (Helen) and of the Malayan
Insurance Co., Inc. (Malayan),[4] a
criminal complaint,[5] before
the Makati City Prosecutor’s Office, for thirteen (13) counts of libel under
Article 355 in relation to Article 353 of the Revised Penal Code (RPC) against
Philip Piccio, Mia Gatmaytan and Ma. Anabella Relova Santos, who are officers
of Parents Enabling Parents Coalition, Inc. (PEPCI), John Joseph Gutierrez,
Jeselyn Upano, Jose Dizon, Rolanda Pareja, Wonina Bonifacio, Elvira Cruz,
Cornelio Zafra, Vicente Ortueste, Victoria Gomez Jacinto, Jurencio Pereche,
Ricardo Loyares and Peter Suchianco, who are trustees of PEPCI, Trennie Monsod,
a member of PEPCI (collectively, the accused), and a certain John Doe, the
administrator of the website www.pepcoalition.com.
PEPCI appears to have been formed by
a large group of disgruntled planholders of Pacific Plans, Inc. (PPI) - a
wholly owned subsidiary of Great Pacific Life Assurance Corporation, also owned
by the Yuchengco Group of Companies (YGC) - who had previously purchased traditional
pre-need educational plans but were unable to collect thereon or avail of the benefits
thereunder after PPI, due to liquidity concerns, filed for corporate
rehabilitation with prayer for suspension of payments before the Makati RTC.
Decrying PPI’s refusal/inability to
honor its obligations under the educational pre-need plans, PEPCI sought to
provide a forum by which the
planholders could seek redress for their pecuniary loss under their policies by maintaining a website on the
internet under the address of www.pepcoalition.com.
Gimenez alleged that PEPCI also owned,
controlled and moderated on the
internet a blogspot[6] under
the website address www.pacificnoplan.blogspot.com,
as well as a yahoo e-group[7] at
no2pep2010@yahoogroups.com. These
websites are easily accessible to the public or by anyone logged on to the
internet.
Gimenez further alleged that upon
accessing the above-stated websites in
Talagang naisahan na
naman tayo ng mga Yuchengcos. Nangyari
na ang mga kinatatakutan kong pagbagsak ng negotiation because it was done
prematurely since we had not file any criminal aspect of our case. What
is worse is that Yuchengcos benefited much from the nego. x x x . That is the fact na talagang hindi dapat
pagtiwalaan ang mga Yuchengcos.
LET’S MOVE TO THE
BATTLEFIELD. FILE THE CRIMINAL CASES IN
COURT, BSP AND AMLC AND WHEREVER.
Pumunta tayong muli sa senado, congreso,
FOR SURE MAY TACTICS
PA SILANG NAKABASTA SA ATIN. LET US BE
READY FOR IT BECAUSE THEY HAD SUCCESSFULLY LULL
By Resolution of May 5, 2006,[10]
the Makati City Prosecutor’s Office, finding probable cause to indict the
accused, filed thirteen (13) separate Informations[11] charging
them with libel. The accusatory portion
of one Information, docketed as Criminal Case No. 06-876, which was raffled off
to public respondent reads:
That on or about the 25th day of August 2005 in Makati City, Metro Manila, Philippines, a place within the jurisdiction of the Honorable Court, the above-named accused, being then the trustees of Parents Enabling Parents Coalition and as such trustees they hold the legal title to the website www.pepcoalition.com which is of general circulation, and publication to the public conspiring, confederating and mutually helping with one another together with John Does, did then and there willfully, unlawfully and feloniously and publicly and maliciously with intention of attacking the honesty, virtue, honor and integrity, character and reputation of complainant Malayan Insurance Co. Inc., Yuchengco Family particularly Ambassador Alfonso Yuchengco and Helen Dee and for further purpose exposing the complainant to public hatred and contempt published an article imputing a vice or defect to the complainant and caused to be composed, posted and published in the said website www.pepcoalition.com and injurious and defamatory article as follows:
Talagang naisahan na naman tayo ng mga Yuchengcos. Nangyari na ang mga kinatatakutan kong pagbagsak ng negotiation. x x x x x x x x x
For sure may tactics pa silang nakabasta sa atin. Let us be ready for it because they had successfully lull us and the next time they will try to kill us na. x x x
A copy of the full text of the foregoing article as published/posted in www.pepcoalition.com is attached as Annex “F” of the complaint.
That the keyword and
password to be used in order to post and publish the above defamatory article
are known to the accused as trustees holding legal title to the above-cited
website and that the accused are the ones
responsible for the posting and publication of the defamatory articles that the
article in question was posted and published with the object of the
discrediting and ridiculing the complainant before the public.
CONTRARY TO LAW.[12]
Several of the accused appealed the
Makati City Prosecutor’s Resolution by a petition for review to the Secretary
of Justice who, by Resolution of June 20, 2007,[13] reversed the finding of probable cause
and accordingly directed the withdrawal of the Informations for libel filed in
court. The Justice Secretary opined that
the crime of “internet libel” was non-existent, hence, the accused could not be
charged with libel under Article 353 of the RPC.[14]
Petitioners, as co-accused,[15] thereupon
filed on June 6, 2006, before the public respondent, a Motion to Quash[16] the
Information in Criminal Case No. 06-876 on the grounds that it failed to vest
jurisdiction on the Makati RTC; the acts
complained of in the Information are not punishable by law since internet libel
is not covered by Article 353 of the RPC; and the Information is fatally
defective for failure to designate the offense charged and the acts or
omissions complained of as constituting the offense of libel.
Citing Macasaet v. People,[17] petitioners
maintained that the Information failed to allege a particular place within the
trial court’s jurisdiction where the subject article was printed and first
published or that the offended
parties resided in
By Order of October 3, 2006,[18] the
public respondent, albeit finding that probable cause existed, quashed the
Information, citing Agustin v. Pamintuan.[19] It found that the Information lacked any
allegations that the offended parties were actually residing in Makati at the
time of the commission of the offense as in fact they listed their address in
the complaint-affidavit at Yuchengco Tower in Binondo, Manila; or
that the alleged libelous article was printed and first published in Makati.
The prosecution moved to reconsider
the quashal of the Information,[20] insisting
that the Information sufficiently conferred jurisdiction on the public
respondent. It cited Banal III v. Panganiban[21]
which held that the Information need not allege verbatim that the libelous publication was “printed and first
published” in the appropriate venue. And it pointed out that Malayan has an office
in
Petitioners opposed the prosecution’s
motion for reconsideration, contending, inter
alia, that since venue is jurisdictional in criminal cases, any defect in
an information for libel pertaining to jurisdiction is not a mere matter of
form that may be cured by amendment.[22]
By Order of March 8, 2007,[23] the
public respondent granted the prosecution’s motion for reconsideration and accordingly
ordered the public prosecutor to “amend the Information to cure the defect of
want of venue.”
The prosecution thereupon moved to
admit the Amended Information dated March 20, 2007,[24] the
accusatory portion of which reads:
That on or about the 25th day of August 2005 in Makati City, Metro Manila, Philippines, a place within the jurisdiction of the Honorable Court, the above-named accused, being then the trustees of Parents Enabling Parents Coalition and as such trustees they hold the legal title to the website www.pepcoalition.com which is of general circulation, and publication to the public conspiring, confederating together with John Does, whose true names, identities and present whereabouts are still unknown and all of them mutually helping and aiding one another, did then and there willfully, unlawfully and feloniously and publicly and maliciously with intention of attacking the honesty, virtue, honor and integrity, character and reputation of complainant Malayan Insurance Co. Inc., Yuchengco Family particularly Ambassador Alfonso Yuchengco and Helen Dee and for further purpose exposing the complainant to public hatred and contempt published an article imputing a vice or defect to the complainant and caused to be composed, posted and published in the said website www.pepcoalition.com, a website accessible in Makati City, an injurious and defamatory article, which was first published and accessed by the private complainant in Makati City, as follows:
x x x x (emphasis and underscoring in the original; italics supplied)
Petitioners moved to quash the Amended
Information[25] which,
they alleged, still failed to vest jurisdiction upon the public respondent because
it failed to allege that the libelous articles were “printed and first
published” by the accused in
By the assailed Order of April 22,
2008, the public respondent, applying Banal
III, found the Amended Information to be sufficient in form.
Petitioners’ motion for reconsideration[26] having
been denied by the public respondent by Joint Resolution of August 12, 2008, they
filed the present petition for Certiorari and Prohibition faulting the public
respondent for:
1. … NOT FINDING THAT THE ACTS ALLEGED IN THE INFORMATION ARE NOT PUNISHABLE BY LAW;
2. … ADMITTING AN AMENDED INFORMATION WHOSE JURISDICTIONAL ALLEGATIONS CONTINUES TO BE DEFICIENT; and
3. …NOT RULING THAT AN AMENDMENT IN THE INFORMATION FOR THE PURPOSE OF CURING JURISDICTIONAL DEFECTS IS ILLEGAL.[27]
With the filing of Gimenez’s Comment[28]
to the petition, the issues are: (1)
whether petitioners violated the rule on hierarchy of courts to thus render the
petition dismissible; and (2) whether grave abuse of discretion attended the public
respondent’s admission of the Amended Information.
The established policy of strict
observance of the judicial hierarchy of courts,[29] as
a rule, requires that recourse must first be made to the lower-ranked court
exercising concurrent jurisdiction with a higher court.[30] A regard
for judicial hierarchy clearly indicates that petitions for the issuance of
extraordinary writs against first level courts should be filed in the RTC and
those against the latter should be filed in the Court of Appeals.[31] The rule is not iron-clad, however, as it admits of certain exceptions.
Thus, a strict application of the
rule is unnecessary when cases brought before the appellate
courts do not involve factual but purely legal questions.[32]
In the present case, the substantive
issue calls for the Court’s exercise of its discretionary authority, by way of
exception, in order to abbreviate the review process as petitioners raise a
pure question of law involving jurisdiction in criminal complaints for libel
under Article 360 of the RPC –whether the Amended Information is sufficient to
sustain a charge for written defamation in light of the requirements under Article 360 of the RPC, as amended by Republic Act (RA) No. 4363, reading:
Art.
360. Persons responsible.—Any person who shall publish, exhibit or cause
the publication or exhibition of any defamation in writing or by similar means,
shall be responsible for the same.
The author or editor of a book or
pamphlet, or the editor or business manager of a daily newspaper, magazine or
serial publication, shall be responsible for the defamations contained therein
to the same extent as if he were the author thereof.
The criminal action and civil action
for damages in cases of written defamations, as provided for in this chapter
shall be filed simultaneously or separately with the Court of First Instance of
the province or city where the libelous article is
printed and first published or where any of the offended parties
actually resides at the time of the commission of the offense: Provided, however, That where one of the
offended parties is a public officer whose office is in the City of Manila at
the time of the commission of the offense, the action shall be filed in the
Court of First Instance of the City of Manila or of the city or province where
the libelous article is printed and first published, and in
case such public officer does not hold office in the City of Manila, the action
shall be filed in the Court of First Instance of the province or city where he
held office at the time of the commission of the offense or where the libelous
article is printed and first published and in case one of the offended parties
is a private individual, the action shall be filed in the Court of First
Instance of the province or city where he actually resides at the time of the
commission of the offense or where the libelous matter is printed and first
published x x x. (emphasis and
underscoring supplied)
Venue is jurisdictional in criminal
actions such that the place where the crime was committed determines not only
the venue of the action but constitutes an essential element of jurisdiction.[33]
This principle acquires even greater import in libel cases, given that Article
360, as amended, specifically provides for the possible venues for the
institution of the criminal and civil aspects of such cases.
In Macasaet,[34]
the Court reiterated its earlier pronouncements in Agbayani v. Sayo[35] which laid out the rules on venue in
libel cases, viz:
For the guidance, therefore, of both the
bench and the bar, this Court finds it appropriate to reiterate our earlier
pronouncement in the case of Agbayani,
to wit:
In order to obviate controversies as to
the venue of the criminal action for written defamation, the complaint or
information should contain allegations as to whether, at the time the offense
was committed, the offended party was a public officer or a private individual
and where he was actually residing at
that time. Whenever
possible, the place where the written defamation was printed and first
published should likewise be alleged. That allegation would be a sine
qua non if the circumstance as to where the libel was printed and first
published is used as the basis of the venue of the action. (emphasis and underscoring supplied)
It becomes clear that the venue of libel
cases where the complainant is a private individual is limited to only either
of two places, namely: 1) where the complainant actually resides at the
time of the commission of the offense; or 2) where the alleged defamatory
article was printed and first published.
The Amended Information in the present case opted to lay the venue by
availing of the second. Thus, it stated
that the offending article “was first published and accessed by the
private complainant in
The insufficiency of the allegations
in the Amended Information to vest jurisdiction in
Agbayani
supplies
a comprehensive restatement of the rules of venue in actions for criminal
libel, following the amendment by Rep. Act No. 4363 of the Revised Penal Code:
“Article
360 in its original form provided that the venue of the criminal and civil
actions for written defamations is the province wherein the libel was
published, displayed or exhibited, regardless of the place where the same was
written, printed or composed. Article 360 originally did not specify the public
officers and the courts that may conduct the preliminary investigation of
complaints for libel.
Before article 360 was amended, the rule was that a
criminal action for libel may be instituted in any jurisdiction where the
libelous article was published or circulated, irrespective of where it was
written or printed (People v. Borja,
43 Phil. 618). Under that rule, the criminal action is transitory and the
injured party has a choice of venue.
Experience had shown that under that old
rule the offended party could harass the accused in a libel case by laying the
venue of the criminal action in a remote or distant place.
Thus,
in connection with an article published in the Daily Mirror and the Philippine
Free Press, Pio Pedrosa, Manuel V. Villareal and Joaquin Roces were charged
with libel in the justice of the peace court of San Fabian, Pangasinan (Amansec v. De Guzman, 93 Phil. 933).
To forestall such harassment, Republic
Act No. 4363 was enacted. It lays down specific rules as to the venue of the
criminal action so as to prevent the offended party in written defamation cases
from inconveniencing the accused by means of out-of-town libel suits, meaning
complaints filed in remote municipal courts (Explanatory Note for the
bill which became Republic Act No. 4363, Congressional Record of May 20, 1965,
pp. 424-5; Time, Inc. v. Reyes,
L-28882, May 31, 1971, 39 SCRA 303, 311).
x x x x (emphasis and underscoring supplied)
Clearly, the evil sought to be
prevented by the amendment to Article 360 was the indiscriminate or arbitrary laying
of the venue in libel cases in distant, isolated or far-flung areas, meant to
accomplish nothing more than harass or intimidate an accused. The disparity or unevenness
of the situation becomes even more acute where the offended party is a person
of sufficient means or possesses influence, and is motivated by spite or the
need for revenge.
If the circumstances as to where the
libel was printed and first published are used by the offended party as basis
for the venue in the criminal action, the Information must allege with
particularity where the defamatory article was printed and first published,
as evidenced or supported by, for instance, the address of their editorial or
business offices in the case of newspapers, magazines or serial publications.
This pre-condition becomes necessary in order to forestall any inclination to
harass.
The same measure cannot be reasonably
expected when it pertains to defamatory material appearing on a website on the
internet as there would be no way of determining the situs of its printing and first publication. To credit Gimenez’s
premise of equating his first access
to the defamatory article on petitioners’ website in
For the Court to hold that the Amended
Information sufficiently vested jurisdiction in the courts of
Respecting the contention that the
venue requirements imposed by Article 360, as amended, are unduly oppressive, the
Court’s pronouncements in Chavez[37]
are instructive:
For
us to grant the present petition, it would be necessary to abandon the Agbayani rule providing that a private
person must file the complaint for libel either in the place of printing and
first publication, or at the complainant’s place of residence. We would also
have to abandon the subsequent cases that reiterate this rule in Agbayani,
such as Soriano, Agustin, and Macasaet. There is no convincing reason to resort to such a radical action. These limitations imposed on libel
actions filed by private persons are hardly onerous, especially as they still
allow such persons to file the civil or criminal complaint in their respective
places of residence, in which situation there is no need to
embark on a quest to determine with precision where the libelous matter was
printed and first published.
(Emphasis
and underscoring supplied.)
IN FINE, the public
respondent committed grave abuse of discretion in denying petitioners’ motion
to quash the Amended Information.
WHEREFORE, the petition is GRANTED.
The assailed Order of
SO ORDERED.
CONCHITA
CARPIO MORALES
Associate Justice
WE CONCUR:
REYNATO S.
PUNO
Chief Justice
Chairperson
|
TERESITA J. LEONARDO-DE CASTRO Associate Justice |
LUCAS P.
BERSAMIN Associate Justice |
MARTIN S.
VILLARAMA, JR.
Associate
Justice
CERTIFICATION
Pursuant to Section 13, Article VIII
of the Constitution, I certify that the conclusions in the above decision had
been reached in consultation before the case was assigned to the writer of the
opinion of the Court’s Division.
REYNATO S. PUNO
Chief Justice
[1] Issued by Presiding Judge Cesar Untalan; rollo, pp. 51-52.
[2]
[3] President of the Philippine Integrated Advertising Agency, Inc. (PIAA), the advertising arm of the Yuchengco Group of Companies (YGC), tasked with preserving the image and good name of the YGC as well as the name and reputation of the Yuchengco Family.
[4] A domestic corporation with offices in
Binondo,
[5] Rollo, pp. 269-293.
[6] A blog is a type of website usually maintained by an individual with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events, or other material such as graphics or video. Entries are commonly displayed in reverse-chronological order and many blogs provide commentary or news on a particular subject; vide http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blog (visited: March 24, 2010).
[7] The term Groups refers to an Internet communication tool which is a hybrid between an electronic mailing list and a threaded internet forum where messages can be posted and read by e-mail or on the Group homepage, like a web forum. Members can choose whether to receive individual, daily digest or Special Delivery e-mails, or they can choose to read Group posts on the Group’s web site. Groups can be created with public or member-only access; vide http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yahoo_Groups (visited: March 24, 2010).
[8] Rollo, p. 274.
[9]
[10] Signed by 1st
[11] Criminal Case Nos. 06-873 – 885, id. at 467-503.
[12]
[13] Issued by Justice Secretary Raul M. Gonzalez, id. at 110-118.
[14] The Yuchengcos’ motion for reconsideration of the Justice Secretary’s aforesaid resolution has yet to be resolved.
[15] The RTC granted the motion of the accused to post bail on recognizance by Order of May 31, 2006.
[16] Rollo, pp. 122-155.
[17] G.R. No. 156747,
[18] Issued by Presiding Judge Cesar Untalan, rollo, pp. 156-163.
[19] G. R. No. 164938, August 22, 2005, 467 SCRA 601.
[20] Rollo, pp. 590-605.
[21] G. R. No. 167474,
[22] Rollo, pp. 610-624.
[23]
[24] Id. at 181-183.
[25] Id. at 184-206.
[26] Vide Motion for Reconsideration with Prayer to Cancel Arraignment, id. at 53-70.
[27]
[28] Id. at 216-268.
[29] Pacoy v. Cajigal, G.R. No. 157472,
[30] Sarsaba
v. Vda. de Te, G.R. No. 175910,
[31] Miaque v. Patag, G.R. Nos. 170609-13, January 30, 2009, 577 SCRA 394, 397 citing Chavez v. National Housing Authority, G.R. No. 164527, 15 August 2007, 530 SCRA 235, 285 citing People v. Cuaresma, G.R. No. 133250, 9 July 2002, 384 SCRA 152.
[32] Chua
v. Ang, G.R. No. 156164,
[33] Macasaet
v. People, supra note 17 at 271; Lopez, et al. v. The City Judge, et al.,
G.R. No. L-25795,
[34] Vide Macasaet v. People, supra note 17 at 273-274.
[35] G.R. No. L-47880,
[36] G.R. No. 125813,
[37] Vide note 36 at 291-292.