GR L 61652; (June, 1984) (Digest)
G.R. No. L-61652 June 22, 1984
PEOPLE OF THE PHILIPPINES, plaintiff-appellee, vs. ALEJANDRO IBASAN, SR., ET AL., defendants-appellants.
FACTS
The original information charged the appellants with homicide. Before arraignment, the prosecution moved for reinvestigation to amend the charge to murder. Accused Alejandro Ibasan, Jr., seeking employment abroad, filed a motion for early arraignment. He attached a written manifestation expressly waiving his defense of double jeopardy should the charge be amended to murder after his arraignment. The court granted his motion, and he was arraigned on the original homicide charge, pleading not guilty. He then departed. Subsequently, an amended information for murder was filed. Upon his return, Ibasan, Jr., with new counsel, moved to quash the amended information on the ground of double jeopardy, arguing his prior waiver was invalid as jeopardy had not yet attached at the time of the waiver.
ISSUE
Whether the amended information for murder against Alejandro Ibasan, Jr., placed him in double jeopardy.
RULING
No, double jeopardy did not attach. The Supreme Court held that while the general rule is that a valid arraignment and plea under an information bar a subsequent prosecution for the same offense or any attempt to change it to a graver one, Ibasan, Jr., was estopped from invoking this defense. His deliberate act of securing an early arraignment through a written waiver, filed with the assistance of counsel, constituted a clear and intelligent waiver of his constitutional right against double jeopardy. The legal logic is that a constitutional right can be waived, provided the waiver is unequivocal and made with full knowledge of its consequences. His waiver was not conditional or premature; it was a strategic move to facilitate his travel. Having misled the court for personal benefit, he could not later repudiate his waiver to escape prosecution. The Court affirmed his conviction but modified it to homicide, as his original plea was to that charge, and sentenced him accordingly. The convictions of the other appellants for murder were affirmed.