G.R. No. L-28841 June 24, 1983
RAFAEL YAPDIANGCO, petitioner-appellant, vs. THE HON. CONCEPCION B. BUENCAMINO and HON. JUSTINIANO CORTEZ, respondents-appellees.

FACTS

On December 2, 1964, Rafael Yapdiangco allegedly committed slight physical injuries against Ang Cho Ching. The City Fiscal of Quezon City filed the corresponding information on February 1, 1965. Yapdiangco moved to quash the information, arguing that the crime, a light offense prescribing in sixty days under Article 90 of the Revised Penal Code, had already prescribed. He contended that the sixtieth day from the commission of the offense was January 31, 1965, a Sunday, and the filing on the next business day, February 1, was therefore beyond the prescriptive period.
The City Court denied the motion to quash, applying the rule that when the last day for filing falls on a Sunday, the act may be done on the next business day, as provided in Section 31 of the Revised Administrative Code. Yapdiangco’s petition for certiorari and mandamus before the Court of First Instance of Rizal was subsequently dismissed, prompting the present appeal. The core issue is whether a Sunday or legal holiday interrupts the running of the prescriptive period for a criminal offense, thereby allowing the filing of the information on the next working day.

ISSUE

Whether the prescriptive period for filing a criminal information is extended when the last day falls on a Sunday or legal holiday.

RULING

No. The Supreme Court granted the petition and ordered the dismissal of the information. The Court held that the prescriptive period for criminal offenses is not extended by the intervention of a Sunday or holiday. Statutes of limitation in criminal cases are acts of amnesty and grace, creating a bar to prosecution. They are strictly construed in favor of the accused, as they represent the State’s self-imposed check to ensure prompt prosecution and the preservation of the best evidence.
The rules on time computation found in the Revised Administrative Code and the Rules of Court, which allow an extension to the next business day when a deadline falls on a holiday, govern reglementary periods for procedural acts. They do not apply to statutory periods of prescription. Prescription in criminal law is substantive and automatic; the State’s right to prosecute is extinguished by mere lapse of the time fixed by law. The exception in Article 91 of the Revised Penal Code, which suspends the period only when the offender is absent from the Philippines, is exclusive under the principle of inclusio unius est exclusio alterius. No other interrupting causes are recognized. Consequently, the filing must be made on or before the last day, even if it is a Sunday or holiday; otherwise, prescription sets in automatically. The fiscal should have filed the information on the last preceding business day.