GR 30113; (September, 1971) (Digest)
G.R. No. L-30113 September 30, 1971
PACIANITO S. PARAGUYA, petitioner, vs. HON. MEYNARDO TIRO, as Judge of the Circuit Criminal Court of the 15th Judicial District, FISCAL EDGARDO Y. RAAGAS, and SIA BON SUAN, respondents.
FACTS
An information was filed in the Circuit Criminal Court of the Fifteenth Judicial District, Cagayan de Oro City, charging Pacianito Paraguya, a BIR agent, with the crime of Indirect Bribery under Article 211 of the Revised Penal Code. The information alleged that on October 10, 1968, Paraguya willfully demanded and received the sum of Three Hundred Pesos from Sia Bon Suan, a cockpit manager, by reason of his official position.
The accused filed a motion to quash the information on the ground of lack of jurisdiction. He contended that Republic Act No. 5179, which created the circuit criminal courts, vested them with jurisdiction concurrent with regular Courts of First Instance only over crimes within the latter’s “original and exclusive jurisdiction.” Since indirect bribery is punishable with arresto mayor (imprisonment not exceeding 6 months), a penalty imposable by city or municipal courts, the case allegedly fell outside the circuit court’s jurisdiction. The respondent judge denied the motion and scheduled the case for hearing.
ISSUE
Whether or not the Circuit Criminal Court has jurisdiction to try a case for Indirect Bribery.
RULING
The Supreme Court granted the petition, ruling that the Circuit Criminal Court had no jurisdiction. Jurisdiction is conferred by law and determined by the allegations in the information. Section 1 of Republic Act No. 5179 explicitly limited the jurisdiction of circuit criminal courts to specific criminal cases “falling under the original and exclusive jurisdiction” of the Courts of First Instance. The Court clarified that this jurisdiction is dependent not only on the type or classification of the crime but also on the penalty prescribed by law.
For a Court of First Instance to have original and exclusive jurisdiction over an offense, the penalty must be imprisonment for more than three years (or six years in certain cases) or a fine of more than three thousand pesos (or six thousand pesos). The crime of Indirect Bribery under Article 211 of the Revised Penal Code is penalized with arresto mayor, suspension, and public censure. Since the prescribed imprisonment does not exceed six months, the offense falls within the original jurisdiction of municipal or city courts, not the Courts of First Instance. Consequently, the case is removed from the competence of the Circuit Criminal Court, whose jurisdiction is merely concurrent with and derivative of the exclusive jurisdiction of the Courts of First Instance. The orders of the respondent judge were set aside and the case was dismissed without prejudice to refiling in the proper court.